BR  121  .M26  1912 
McConnell,  S.  D.  1845-1939 
Christianity 


CHRISTIANITY 

AN  INTERPRETATION 


CHEISTIANITY 


AN  INTERPRETATION 


By 


s/ 


S.  D.  McCONNELL,D.D. 

LL.D..  D.C.L. 


LONGMANS,    GREEN,    AND    CO 

FOURTH  AVENUE  &  30TH  STREET,  NEW  YORK 

LONDON,  BOMBAY  AND  CALCUTTA 

1912 


Copyright,  1912,  bt 
LONGMANS,  GREEN,  &  CO. 


THE   QUINN   A    BODEN    CO.  PRESS 
HAHWAV,    N.  i. 


TO    MY    GOOD    FRIEND 

SIR   WILLIAM    MATHER 

DOCTOR  OF  LAWS;  PRIVY  COUNCILLOR 

WITH      GRATEFUL     AFFECTION 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I.     Are  We  Still  Christian?     . 

PAOB 

3 

II. 

Immoral  Salvation 

.       21 

III. 

The  Christ  of  the  Gospels 

49 

IV. 

The  Primitive  Christ    . 

71 

V. 

Body  and  Soul        .... 

87 

YI. 

The  Basis  of  Immortality     . 

.      103 

VII. 

Immortability 

119 

VIII. 

Jesus'  Teaching 

131 

IX. 

The  First  to  Cross 

145 

X. 

Bodies  Celestial    .... 

163 

XI. 

The  Moral  Effect 

177 

XII. 

The  New  Creation        .         .         .         . 

185 

XIII. 

The  Christian  Church 

203 

XIV. 

The  Sum  of  the  Whole  Matter 

229 

ARE  WE  STILL  CHRISTIAN? 


"  The  highest  duty  is  to  determine  what  is  of  per- 
manent value;  not  to  cleave  to  words,  but  to  find  out 
what  is  essential.  The  '  whole  '  Christ,  the  *  whole  * 
Gospel,  if  we  mean  by  this  the  external  image  taken  in 
all  its  details  and  set  up  for  imitation,  is  just  as  bad  and 
deceptive  a  shibboleth  as  the  *  whole '  Luther  and  the 
like.  It  is  bad  because  it  enslaves  us,  and  it  is  deceptive 
because  the  people  who  proclaim  it  do  not  take  it  seri- 
ously, and  could  not  do  so  if  they  tried.  They  cannot 
do  so  because  they  cannot  cease  to  feel,  understand,  and 
judge  as  children  of  their  age  ". — Harnack. 


I 

ARE  WE  STILL  CHRISTIAN? 

More  than  fifty  years  ago  Dr.  Strauss  asked  this 
question  in  a  volume  which  aroused  in  the  rehgious 
world  much  interest  and  more  indignation.  The  mere 
suggestion  was  an  insult.  It  was  to  accuse  the  Chris- 
tian world  of  hypocrisy  or  stupidity.  The  writer 
was  denounced  as  would  be  one  who  had  aspersed  the 
chastity  of  his  mother. 

To-day  the  question  is  being  asked  by  multitudes. 
But  not  in  the  same  spirit.  Professor  Harnack's 
"  What  is  Christianity  ?  "  is  the  fifty  years  belated 
response  to  Strauss.  For  if  "  Christianity  "  be  what 
Strauss  and  his  denouncers  conceived  it  to  be,  it  has 
already  to  a  great  extent  disappeared  and  bids  fair 
to  be  left  behind,  a  stupendous  but  pathetic  ruin,  like 
many  an  ancient  city  in  which  men  one  time  dwelt. 

As  I  look  out  to  sea  from  where  I  write  my  eye 
rests  upon  the  massive  walls  of  a  mediaeval  monastery, 
standing  in  the  middle  of  an  island.  The  island  was 
once  of  many  times  its  present  area,  but  little  by 
little  the  sea  has  reduced  its  compass.  Sometimes 
by  a  long  period  of  gnawing  and  nibbling  about  its 
edges,  sometimes  by  mighty  storms  engulfing  huge 
segments.    The  castle  stands  in  the  midst  of  an  ever- 

3 


4  CHRISTIANITY 

lessening  area.  I  speculate  as  to  whether  it  will  be  ever 
overwhelmed?  and  when?  And  are  the  same  mighty- 
forces  which  are  obliterating  it  building  up  islands 
elsewhere  upon  which  generations  of  men  still  to 
come  will  erect  other  structures  of  like  purpose?  And 
will  they  in  their  turn  pass  in  the  endless  succession 
of  the  ages? 

75  Christianity  founded  upon  a  rock?  If  so,  what 
ground  do  its  walls  really  enclose?  And  what  out- 
buildings may  be  washed  away  before  the  impregna- 
ble wall  be  reached? 

During  many  ages  the  Church  busied  herself  in 
what  "  safe  "  men  love  to  call  constructive  work.  To 
the  very  small  and  simple  body  of  religious  belief  with 
which  it  started  it  added  first  one,  then  another,  and 
another: — The  Resurrection  of  the  Body ;  the  Descent 
into  Hell ;  the  Trinity ;  Sacramental  Grace ;  the  Real 
Presence;  the  Virgin  Birth;  the  Doctrine  of  the 
Atonement;  the  Fall  of  Man; — ^then,  after  a  long 
interval,  the  Inspiration  of  Scripture;  Justification 
by  Faith ;  and  finally,  the  Infallibility  of  the  Pope, — 
all  of  which,  it  has  been  maintained,  "  except  a  man 
believe  faithfully  he  cannot  be  saved  ".  It  is  now 
nearly  a  century  since  this  process  of  dogma-making 
ceased.  Since  then  only  two  new  ones  have  pos- 
sessed sufficient  vitality  to  organize  a  body  about 
them, — Mormonism  and  Christian  Science.  So  far 
as  the  world  to-day  has  any  interest  in  religious 
doctrines,  it  is  not  to  propound  or  maintain  them 
but  to  examine  and  dismiss  them.     This  process  has 


ARE  WE  STILL  CHRISTIAN?  5 

already  gone  far,  much  farther  than  is  generally 
realized.  Dogmas  which  fifty  years  ago  were  as- 
serted and  generally  believed  to  be  essential  to  the 
Christian  faith  have  been  so  completely  dismissed 
and  forgotten  that  the  average  man  finds  it  dif- 
ficult to  believe  that  men  were  ever  willing  to  fight, 
much  less  to  suffer  for  them.  Yet  within  the  memory 
of  many  of  us  Mr.  Gladstone  was  battling  for  the  lit- 
eral truth  of  the  story  of  creation  in  Genesis ;  Bishop 
Colenso  was  excommunicated  for  questioning  the  de- 
tails of  the  exodus  from  Egypt;  the  Dean  of  St. 
Paul's  was  maintaining  that  "  if  every  book,  every 
Word,  every  syllable  "  of  Holy  Scripture  were  not 
inspired  and  inerrant,  the  foundation  was  gone  from 
under  the  Christian  religion;  one  of  the  greatest 
scholars  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Scotland  was 
deposed  for  teaching  that  the  "  Mosaic  System  "  was 
not  in  effect  until  after  the  Exile;  and  an  equally 
eminent  and  godly  minister  of  the  same  Church  in 
America  was  dismissed  for  asserting  that  the  book 
of  Isaiah  was  a  composite,  and  not  the  work  of  one 
inspired  man.  All  this,  really  so  recent,  seems  as 
remote  as  the  dark  ages.  Now,  even  the  Westminster 
Confession  and  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  are  never 
heard  of  and  never  cared  about  save  when  at  an  ec- 
clesiastical council  the  question  of  their  formal  re- 
tention or  rejection  is  mooted.  The  newspapers  no 
longer  report  such  matters.  The  Reviews  no  longer 
open  their  pages  to  such  discussions.  They  are  no 
longer  interesting.     Would  the  editor  of  the  Ni/ne- 


6  CHRISTIANITY 

teenth  Century  to-day  give  space  to  Mr.  Gladstone 
and  Mr.  Huxley  to  debate  about  the  Gaderene 
swine.? — allowing  that  men  equally  gifted  were  will- 
ing to  spend  their  time  upon  such  a  controversy. 

This  disintegration  of  dogmas  is  going  steadily 
on.  They  have  not  been  disproved  or  formally  re- 
jected, but  simply  w^orn  away,  as  the  rising  tide  dis- 
solves the  edges  of  a  sandy  shore.  The  question 
which  now  interests  us  is.  How  far  will  this  process 
go?  and  when  will  it  be  stayed?  The  world  will  never 
be  without  a  religion.  That  syncretism  of  historic 
reality,  pagan  cult,  Roman  jurisprudence,  Greek 
speculation,  Teutonic  gloom,  and  ethnic  emotion 
which  we  call  "  Christianity  "  has  long  satisfied  the 
needs  of  men.  It  cannot  go  on  doing  so  without 
modifications  so  fundamental  that  one  hesitates  to 
even  suggest  them.  * 

It  is  a  condition  for  existence  of  a  religion  that 
it  must  satisfy  the  moral,  intellectual,  social  needs 
of  its  time.  This  Christianity  as  it  has  long  been 
presented  has  largely  ceased  to  do.  The  ethical  sense 
of  the  modern  world  reached  a  point  a  good  while 
ago  at  which  it  began  to  condemn  large  portions  of 
the  Old  Testament  story.  Actions  there  represented 
as  having  been  done  by  the  command  or  with  the 
approval  of  God  are  now  pronounced  immoral. 
Miriam's  song  of  triumph  is  the  gloating  of  a  savage 
chieftainess  over  her  enemies  dead.  Jael  beguiles 
Sisera  by  the  proffer  of  hospitality,  lies  to  him, 
treacherously  murders  him,  and  bursts  into  a  paean 


ARE  WE  STILL  CHRISTIAN?  7 

of  praise  to  God.  By  his  command  the  Canaanites  are 
massacred,  men,  women,  and  innocent  babes ;  Agag 
is  hewn  to  pieces ;  the  priests  of  Baal  are  slaughtered 
by  the  prophet;  Jacob  robs  his  brother,  deceives  his 
father,  and  therefore  wins  the  divine  benediction, — 
and  so  on.  The  imprecatory  Psalms  cannot  be  read 
now  without  a  shudder.  The  old  defence,  "  may  not 
God  do  what  he  will  with  his  own.f^  "  no  longer  serves. 
Men  cannot  worship  a  god  who  is  not  better  than  they 
are  themselves.  It  is  true  that  we  have  come  to  see 
that  the  Old  Testament  story  is  the  more  true  for  its 
record  of  these  things.  It  represents  men  and  times 
as  controlled  by  the  ethical  standards  which  had  been 
reached  at  that  stage  of  moral  evolution.  But  it 
must  be  seen  that  in  proportion  as  it  does  so  it  dis- 
places the  Bible  from  the  position  of  universal  au- 
thority which  it  has  occupied  for  so  long. 

In  the  same  way  the  moral  demand  of  the  modern 
world  begins  to  show  uneasiness  in  presence  of  the 
New  Testament  as  well.  It  is  seriously  questioned 
whether  the  "  other  worldliness  "  so  exalted  there  is 
compatible  with  the  maintenance  of  good  citizenship, 
or  indeed  with  any  social  order  whatever.  The  in- 
junction to  "  resist  not  evil  ",  to  "  hate  father  and 
mother  ",  to  "  take  no  thought  for  the  morrow  ",  to 
"  sell  all  you  have  and  give  to  the  poor  ",  and  the 
like,  are  regarded  with  serious  doubt.  Were  they 
meant  as  practical  rules  of  conduct  for  a  stable  so- 
ciety, or  were  they  the  exhortations  of  those  who 
believed  themselves  part  of  the  company  of  a  ship- 


8  CHRISTIANITY 

wrecked  world  soon  to  be  broken  up  and  engulfed? 
It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  practical  code  of  the 
earliest  Christian  age  was  moulded  with  reference  to 
the  world  view  then  prevalent. 

"Not  only  is  no  recognition  given  to  art  and  letters, 
but  even  the  relations  of  domestic  life  are  discour- 
aged. The  slave  is  dissuaded  from  care  about  his 
liberty,  on  the  express  ground  that  it  is  not  worth 
while  on  the  brink  of  a  great  catastrophe  to  assume 
any  new  position,  or  commit  the  heart  by  new  ties. 
The  time  is  too  short,  the  crisis  too  near  for  the 
career  of  a  free  life  or  the  building  of  a  human 
home.  It  is  better  for  every  one  to  continue  as  he 
is;  and  instead  of  waiting  to  have  the  world  perish 
from  him  to  regard  himself  as  already  dead  to  the 
world.  As  seen  from  their  point  of  view  all  tem- 
poral claims  sink  into  negation.  The  constitutions, 
the  arts,  the  culture  of  civilized  nations  were  about 
to  be  superseded  and  the  Christian  needed  only  such 
provisional  arrangements  as  might  serve  during  the 
world's  brief  respite.  Equally  natural  and  suitable 
to  their  conceived  position  was  the  non-resistance 
principles  of  the  early  disciples.  What  right  could 
be  worth  contending  for  on  the  dawn  of  a  great  day 
of  redress  when  every  wrong  would  be  brought  to  its 
account?  Who  would  carry  a  cause  before  Dikast  or 
Proconsul  when  Eternal  Justice  was  pledged  to  hear 
it  to-morrow  ?  When  the  great  assizes  of  the  universe 
are  about  to  be  opened  it  were  a  poor  thing  for  the 
suitors  to  begin  fighting  In  the  vestibule." 


ARE  WE  STILL  CHRISTIAN?  9 

Here,  again,  a  more  enlightened  and  just  study  of 
history  has  turned  the  point  of  the  objection.  The 
fact  has  come  to  be  recognized  that  the  early  Chris- 
tians as  well  as  Jesus  himself  did  expect  the  speedy 
if  not  immediate  "  restitution  of  all  things  ",  and  did 
square  their  living  and  teaching  by  that  belief.  This 
does  undoubtedly  bring  relief  from  a  sense  of  obliga- 
tion to  observe  injunctions  which  are  at  the  same 
time  felt  to  be  both  impracticable  and  dangerous. 
But  it  must  be  seen  once  more  that  it  breaks  down 
that  absolute  and  universal  authority  once  allowed 
to  the  New  Testament. 

Thus  the  ethical  needs  of  the  stage  at  which  we 
are  has  brought  its  powerful  reinforcement  to  the 
spirit  of  scientific  investigation  in  examining  the 
origins  of  Christianity.  It  is  true  that  the  mass  of 
believers  go  on  believing  and  of  preachers  go  on 
preaching  and  of  teachers  go  on  teaching  as  though 
nothing  had  occurred.  This  will  always  be  so.  Mis- 
taken beliefs,  beliefs  which  have  grown  and  spread 
until  their  branches  fill  the  air,  die  always  at  the 
root.  The  branches  may  appear  green  and  vigorous 
for  many  a  day  after  the  nourishing  juices  have 
ceased  to  rise.  The  dogma  of  "  Inspiration  ",  whose 
place  among  Christian  doctrines  was  always  illegiti- 
mate,— ^together  with  its  attendant  obscurantism, 
superstition,  and  bibliolatry,  must  be  regarded  as 
among  the  structures  of  sandy  foundation  which  the 
tides  of  time  have  already  disintegrated. 

Again,  the  conscience  and  the  intelligence  of  our 


10  CHRISTIANITY 

time  have  joined  together  to  push  from  its  place  a 
dogma  far  more  ancient  than  that  of  Inspiration,  viz., 
the  "  Fall  of  Man  ".  Indeed  it  may  be  said  that  this 
doctrine  is  the  substructure  of  every  "  system  "  of 
theology  formulated  within  the  last  fifteen  centuries. 
It  is  assumed  even  now  that  it  accounts  for  the  fact 
that  "  the  word  was  made  flesh  ".  Nevertheless  con- 
science repudiates  it;  science  shows  its  impossibility. 

The  existence  of  moral  evil  is  a  melancholy  fact, 
and  there  are  many  theories  to  account  for  its  pres- 
ence. According  to  the  one  before  us,  there  was, 
long  ago,  a  primeval  world  which  was  a  paradise. 
It  had  a  genial  climate  and  a  fertile  soil.  No  ice- 
bound oceans  or  burning  deserts,  no  thorns  or  bram- 
bles, no  predacious  beast  or  pestilential  wind  was 
there.  The  world  was  young  and  wholesome.  No 
nerve  had  ever  thrilled  with  pain  nor  any  living  crea- 
ture seen  the  face  of  Death.  In  this  paradise  God 
walked  and  was  lonely.  In  it  he  set  the  newly  fash- 
ioned Adam,  the  first  individual  of  his  race.  Into  his 
arms  he  graciously  gave  the  maiden  mother  of  us 
all.  He  created  them  immortal.  Their  wisdom  was 
transcendent,  their  goodness  absolute. 

With  Adam  God  made  a  "  covenant  ".  The  matter 
of  agreement  was  that  perfect  obedience  and  un- 
broken righteousness  would  be  rewarded  by  continual 
bliss  and  warranty  against  pain  and  death,  and  that 
for  disobedience  the  penalty  should  be  capital.  In 
this  covenant,  moreover,  Adam  did  not  act  for  him- 
self alone,  but  as  the  legal  representative  of  all  his 


ARE  WE  STILL  CHRISTIAN?  11 

race  yet  unbegotten.  They  were  to  have  their  chance 
in  him,  and  to  stand  forfeit  if  he  failed.^  The  simple 
test  for  the  first  man's  power  of  moral  endurance 
was  to  be  his  abstention  from  a  certain  attractive 
fruit  in  the  garden  where  he  dwelt.  An  insidious 
tempter  appeared  from  some  unknown  and  unsus- 
pected quarter,  enlisted  the  more  pliable  nature  of 
Eve  on  the  side  of  disobedience,  and  through  her 
broke  down  the  moral  resistance  of  man.  He  failed 
in  the  test,  and  catastrophe  unspeakable  was  let 
loose.  Smitten  suddenly  with  shame  and  fear,  the 
offenders  crept  away,  already  moribund.  The  voice 
of  God  rolling  in  thunder  revealed  his  hiding  place. 
The  flashing  lightning  of  an  offended  heaven  burned 
between  them  and  their  bower.  The  indignant  earth 
shot  up  from  her  bosom  the  upas  and  the  deadly 
nightshade  among  the  forest,  and  choked  the  wheat 
with  thorns  and  brambles.  The  wild  beasts,  filled 
for  the  first  time  with  rage  and  hunger,  rent  and  de- 
voured one  another.  The  natures  of  the  offenders 
underwent  a  sudden  ferment  which  left  them  trans- 
formed and  totally  depraved.  Their  unborn  children 
not  only  inherited  the  taint,  but  were  subject  to  all 
the  penalties  appended  to  the  original  contract  broken 
by  their  father  and  representative.^ 

^  Whether  the  covenant  were  to  remain  in  force  forever,  or 
whether  after  a  certain  period  of  obedience  man  was  to  be 
confirmed  in  an  indefeasible  right  of  immortality,  has  never 
been  agreed. 

2  At  this  point  "  Augustinians  "  and  "  Pelagians  "  part  com- 
pany. 


12  CHRISTIANITY 

Thus,  death,  physical  and  moral,  the  depravity  of 
every  son  of  Adam,  and  all  the  thousand  ills  that 
flesh  is  heir  to,  both  in  this  world  and  in  any  world 
to  come,  are  accounted  for  by  that  event  which  in 
popular  religion  and  in  technical  theology  is  called 
the  "  Fall  ".  The  Prayer  Book,  in  its  wedding  serv- 
ice, makes  it  the  foundation  of  its  philosophy  of 
marriage.  In  the  Larger  Catechism  appended  to  the 
Confession  of  Faith  it  is  stated  baldly : — "  The  Fall 
brought  upon  mankind  the  loss  of  communion  with 
God,  his  displeasure  and  curse,  so  that  we  are  by 
nature  children  of  wrath,  bond  slaves  of  Satan,  and 
justly  liable  to  all  punishment  in  this  world  and  the 
world  to  come  ".  It  is  equally  present,  explicitly 
or  implicitly,  in  all  theological  systems. 

Now,  whence  came  this  notion  which  has  so  power- 
fully affected  the  religious  life  of  the  Christian 
world?  In  the  Old  Testament  there  is  no  after  refer- 
ence to  it  whatever.  Throughout  its  whole  record 
every  instance  of  moral  obliquity  is  referred  to  the 
deliberate  and  wanton  choice  of  the  person  offending. 
His  fault  is  never  modified  or  the  guilty  quality  of 
his  nature  deemed  to  be  affected  by  his  relation  to 
Adam.  He  is  in  every  case  accounted  worthy  or 
blameworthy,  not  on  account  of  what  his  nature  is 
qua  man,  but  for  what  he  does  of  his  own  choice. 
It  is  also  noteworthy  that  it  is  entirely  unknown  to 
Rabbinical  Judaism. 

It  is  never  referred  to  in  any  form  by  Jesus.  If 
what  is   called   Christianity   contained  nothing  but 


ARE  WE  STILL  CHRISTIAN?  13 

what  could  be  referred  to  liis  authority,  its  doctrinal 
compass  would  shrink  amazingly.  The  dogma  in 
question  would  never  have  been  heard  of. 

What  then  will  account  for  the  importance  allowed 
to  a  doctrine  which  science  declares  to  be  untrue, 
and  against  which  the  moral  sense  revolts.'^  Its  his- 
tory, in  rough  lines,  can  easily  be  traced.  When  the 
doctrine  of  Vicarious  Redemption  had  been  elaborated 
as  an  interpretation  of  Jesus'  work,  logic  required 
as  its  substructure  a  vicarious  condemnation.  The 
two  arose  and  will  disappear  together.  The  moral 
progress  of  the  race  has  already  left  them  behind 
it.  Historically  it  was  elaborated  by  that  great  sys- 
tem builder,  Augustine.  It  passed,  together  with  the 
rest  of  his  theology,  into  general  acceptance  in  the 
Western  Church.  It  was  developed  in  curious  detail 
during  the  busy  idleness  of  the  scholastic  period. 
Dante  popularized  for  the  Latin  peoples  the  story 
of  the  Edenic  paradise.  Milton  did  the  same  for  the 
English-speaking  race.  Luther,  the  Augustinian 
monk,  brought  the  theory  with  him  from  his  cloister. 
Calvin,  the  very  incarnation  of  legalism,  made  it  the 
starting  point  of  his  system.  Through  these  various 
channels  it  has  come,  since  the  Reformation,  to  be 
popularly  accepted  as  the  Christian  belief  concerning 
the  moral  nature  and  status  of  man.  But  while  it  still 
holds  its  place  in  doctrinal  standards  it  has  ceased 
to  be  a  conviction  to  which  one  may  appeal  to  influ- 
ence conduct.  What  preacher  would  dare  to  assert 
baldly,  "  You  deserve  to  be  damned  for  your  share 


14  CHRISTIANITY 

in  Adam's  disobedience  "  ?  The  dogma  is  no  longer 
held  on  the  authority  of  Augustine,  or  rejected  with 
Pelagius ;  it  has  simply  fallen  out  of  sight  in  conse- 
quence of  its  intrinsic  unworthiness  and  essential  im- 
morality. 

But  if  the  Edenic  legend  does  not  serve  as  a  founda- 
tion for  dogma,  has  it  then  any  serious  significance? 
Is  it  anything  more  than  one  of  the  fond  imaginings 
of  a  childish  world?  I  reply,  it  is  a  compendium  of 
that  story  which  is  writ  large  in  the  whole  Hebrew- 
Christian  scriptures, — the  story  of  the  origin  and  de- 
velopment of  the  moral  life  of  man,  and  of  God's  deal- 
ing therewith.  Whether  it  originated  in  Babylon  or 
Egypt,  whether  from  Moses  or  Manes,  is  of  little 
consequence.  The  marvellous  thing  is  the  story  itself. 
This  second  chapter  of  Genesis,  like  the  first,  moves 
with  majestic  strides,  an  seon  in  a  paragraph,  with 
space  for  a  year  of  God's  days  between  verses.  It  is 
couched  in  a  language  so  oriental  and  so  poetic  that 
even  Augustine  warned  against  dangerous  literalness 
in  its  interpretation.  It  first  traces  creation  from 
nebulous,  chaotic  fire  mist  to  the  introduction  of  the 
creature  fashioned  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  the 
gods.  This  creature  is  called  Adam,  "  the  Man  ". 
This  having  been  done,  it  recapitulates  the  history  of 
creation  with  reference  to  the  being  in  which  it  cul- 
minated. It  refers,  most  briefly,  to  the  preparation 
of  the  earth  to  his  uses,  connects  him  as  to  his 
physical  side  with  matter,  and  then  enters  upon  the 
history  of  the  development  and  progress  of  man's 


ARE  WE  STILL  CHRISTIAN?  15 

moral  and  religious  life.  This  is  the  theme  of  the 
entire  Scripture.  But  this  progress  is  conceived 
throughout  as  having  been  by  a  series  of  continuously 
recurring  selections.  The  first  of  these  is  in  the  story 
before  us.  There  is  no  intimation  that  "  Adam " 
and  "  Eve  "  were  the  first  of  the  race.  The  Scrip- 
tural interest  begins  at  that  point  in  its  evolution  at 
which  the  moral  sense  appeared,  the  capacity  "  to 
know  good  and  evil  ".  Man  the  animal,  the  crown 
of  the  animals,  had  no  doubt  dwelt  upon  the  earth  for 
ages  before.  In  the  Edenic  poem — allegory — what 
you  will, — the  spiritual  history  of  the  race  commences 
with  the  first  individuals  in  whom  the  moral  faculty 
had  shown  itself.  Who,  or  when,  or  where,  is  of 
little  account.  It  must  have  been  at  some  time, — or 
many  times.  It  is  a  selection  of  the  fit.  In  the  sequel 
Genesis  occupies  itself  only  with  those  in  whom  this 
moral  progression  moves.  Seth  and  his  line  are  fol- 
lowed, while  the  other  sons  and  daughters  of  Adam 
remain  in  sight  only  for  a  little  way,  to  where  they 
founded  nations,  passed  through  the  stage  of  pas- 
toral life,  concentrated  in  cities,  blossomed  into  art, 
burst  into  music,  and  then  pass  forever  out  of  sight 
and  hearing.  Afterward,  Abraham  is  selected  from 
among  the  Acadians,  while  they  are  left  to  complete 
the  cycle  of  a  civilization  untouched  by  any  divine 
spirit,  and  then  sink  into  decay.  Isaac  is  taken  and 
his  brethren  left  aside.  Jacob  is  chosen  and  Esau 
left.  The  Bible  is  as  remorseless  as  science  itself. 
For  its  purpose  moral  fitness  is  the  test.    The  calling 


16  CHRISTIANITY 

of  "  Adam  "  seems  therefore  to  be  but  the  first  of 
many  such  selections,  the  first  of  many  of  its  kind. 

The  story  does  indeed  sound  far  away  and  strange. 
Surely  nothing  could  be  more  unsuitable  upon  which 
to  build  a  system  of  formal  dogma.  But  as  a  piece 
of  profound  ethnic  wisdom  it  shows  an  insight  mar- 
vellous enough.  It  rests  morality  upon  those  broad 
foundations  where  the  communis  sensus  of  the  normal 
man  looks  for  it.  It  presents  (1)  a  personal  God 
who  can  speak;  (2)  a  human  faculty  which  can  ap- 
prehend; (3)  a  power  of  will  which  can  choose;  (4) 
that  the  essence  of  wrong-doing  consists  not  in  dam- 
age to  the  community,  but  in  disobedience  to  the 
Eternal  Law. 

Therefore  the  Lord-God  said,  "  Behold  the  man  is 
become  as  one  of  us  to  know  good  and  evil ". 

"And  so  I  live,  you  see, 
Go  through  the  world,  try,  prove,  reject, 
Prefer,  still  struggling  to  eifect 
My  warfare;  happy  that  I  can 
Be  crossed  and  thwarted  as  a  man. 
Not  left,  in  God's  contempt,  apart, 
With  ghastly,  smooth  life,  dead  at  heart. 
Tame  in  earth's  paddock  as  her  prize". 

Make  what  allowance  one  will  for  the  obscurity  of 
the  story,  the  fact  remains  that  the  moral  progress 
of  the  race  has  been  but  the  completion  of  the  pic- 
ture there  sketched  in  broad  outline.  The  evolution- 
ist comprehends  it  best;  the  systematic  theologian 
least.  We  find  ourselves  following  the  sweep  of  a 
majestic  movement,  similar  in  kind  to  that  from  the 


ARE  WE  STILL  CHRISTIAN?  IT 

monad  to  the  man.  Here  again,  as  at  other  points, 
the  progress  halted,  helpless  or  at  fault,  and  God 
vouchsafed  the  gift  of  a  new  impulse.  Here  it  is 
nothing  less  than  the  inbreathing  of  his  own  spirit. 
It  endows  the  recipient  with  that  divine  quality  in 
virtue  of  which  he  is  capable,  under  suitable  condi- 
tions, of  being  "  born  again  ".  It  accounts  for  the 
complex  and  contradictory  impulses  which  contend 
in  the  arena  of  the  human  soul.  It  accounts  for  the 
old  man  as  well  as  the  new.  It  recognizes  the  sur- 
viving ape  and  tiger  which  chatter  and  growl  among 
the  human  affections.  It  brings  man  in  sight  of  "  the 
tree  of  life  "  and  bids  him  long  mightily  for  its  fruits. 
It  bids  him  work  among  thorns  and  briars,  but  when 
he  lifts  up  his  face  he  learns  that  he  has  "  become  as 
one  of  us  ".  It  gives  him  sanction  for  conduct  and 
hope  of  endless  progression.  It  accounts  for  the 
faults  of  the  patriarch,  the  faith  of  the  apostle,  and 
the  faultlessness  of  the  Perfect  Man. 


IMMORAL  SALVATION 


"  In  an  inscription  from  the  Egyptian  monuments, 
which  dates  back  to  the  early  days  of  Moses,  there  is 
reference  to  a  then  ancient  legend  of  a  rebellion  of  man- 
kind against  the  gods ;  of  an  edict  of  destruction  against 
the  human  race;  and  of  a  divine  interposition  for  the 
rescue  of  the  doomed  people.  In  that  legend  a  promi- 
nent place  is  given  to  human  blood,  which  was  mingled 
with  the  juice  of  mandrakes  and  offered  as  a  drink  to 
the  gods,  and  afterward  poured  out  to  overflow  and 
revivify  the  earth  ". — Trumbull,  "  Blood  Covenant  ". 


n 

IMMORAL  SALVATION 

I  WISH  to  emphasize  still  more  strongly  that  the 
revolt  of  a  large  portion  of  the  modem  world  from 
Christianity  as  it  has  been  presented  is  due  not  to 
intellectual  but  to  moral  causes.  It  is  true  that  the 
extension  of  knowledge  has  rendered  impossible  the 
acceptance  of  a  multitude  of  fond  beliefs,  easy  for 
former  times.  The  six  natural  days  of  creation,  the 
universality  of  the  Deluge,  the  divine  sanction  of  the 
Levitical  system,  and  the  like,  have  been  rendered  un- 
tenable simply  by  increasing  knowledge.  But  no  one 
is  seriously  disturbed  thereby.  It  is  so  plain  that 
there  is  no  necessary  connection  between  these  things 
and  Christ  that  they  may  disappear  without  hurt,  so 
soon  as  misguided  orthodoxy  shall  cease  to  see  in 
them  things  which  are  not  there.  If  farther  increase 
of  knowledge  should  re-establish  them,  well  and  good. 
The  Intelligence  can  listen  to  arguments,  and  is  al- 
ways open  to  proofs.  But  the  Conscience  is  another 
thing.  Its  judgments  are  final  and  it  resents  any 
attempt  at  argument. 

Now,  the  common  moral  sense  has  reached  a  stage 
at  which  it  turns  away  from  that  dogma  which  has 
long  been  exhibited  as  the  very  foundation  of  Chris- 

21 


22  CHRISTIANITY 

tianity,  and  as  the  true  and  evident  interpretation  of 
the  person  and  work  of  Christ, — the  dogma  of  Vicari- 
ous Atonement.  Around  this  theory  has  gathered  so 
much  of  the  doctrine  and  the  emotion  of  religion 
that  to  challenge  it  must  seem  to  many  as  a  for- 
bidden deed.  Nevertheless  it  must  be  done,  in  the 
interest  of  truth  and  of  Christianity  itself. 

The  historical  fact  is  that  Jesus  was  put  to  death 
as  a  malefactor.  The  times  were  cruel,  and  it  so 
happened  that  the  mode  of  his  death  was  by  cruci- 
fixion. It  took  place  on  the  common  execution 
ground  outside  the  city  of  Jerusalem.  To  a  western 
visitor  to  the  capital  the  sight  had  little  noteworthy 
about  it.  He  scarcely  singled  it  out  for  notice  from 
among  the  hundreds  of  crosses  in  every  province 
upon  which  he  had  seen  men  writhing  during  his 
travels  in  the  East.  If  he  had  made  any  special 
inquiry  about  this  offender  he  was  told  that  he  had 
been  a  rather  interesting,  and  probably  quite  harm- 
less man,  a  dreaming  Jew,  who  had  promulgated 
vague  notions  about  a  new  social  and  political  or- 
der, and  had  gathered  about  him  a  considerable  fol- 
lowing. It  was  a  pity  that  he  had  to  be  taken  seri- 
ously, indeed  the  Governor  had  tried  to  save  him 
from  the  consequences  of  his  own  indiscretion,  but 
then,  you  know,  the  laws  concerning  sedition  are  very 
stringent,  and  none  of  these  laws  take  much  account 
of  persons  or  motives,  and  so  the  poor  man  blundered 
to  his  fate.  It  is  a  pity.  So  the  official  world  would 
have  answered.     The  religious  world  explained  that 


IMMORAL  SALVATION  23 

this  was  a  very  pestilent  and  dangerous  fellow.  He 
was  utterly  without  reverence,  jested  about  our  most 
hallowed  and  long  established  institutions,  spoke  scur- 
rilous abuse  of  priests  and  dignitaries,  held  and 
taught  loose  and  dangerous  notions  about  God  and 
religion,  broke  the  holy  sabbath  day,  told  the  rabble, 
for  instance,  that  harlots  and  tax  farmers  were  more 
worthy  people  than  even  magistrates  and  clerics.  He 
was  a  dangerous  demagogue,  all  the  more  dangerous 
because  of  his  strangely  attractive  personality  and 
the  diabolic  charm  of  his  eloquence.  Something  had 
to  be  done  with  him.  Even  though  no  specific  charge 
could  well  be  brought  against  him,  it  was  better  that 
he  should  be  put  out  of  the  way  than  that  the  whole 
people  should  be  jeopardized.  He  was  leading  them 
inevitably  to  anarchy,  atheism,  and  rebellion.  He 
has  simply  come  to  the  end  that  such  men  always 
reach. 

The  crowd  that  seethed  around  the  spear  points 
which  ringed  the  bloody  square,  and  mocked  at  the 
man  upon  the  middle  cross,  explained  that  he  was 
an  exposed  fraud  and  imposter,  that  he  had  deluded 
them  with  glittering  promises  about  a  new  Kingdom 
he  was  to  inaugurate,  a  kingdom  in  which  there 
should  have  been  no  rich  and  no  poor,  where  all 
should  have  share  and  share  alike,  a  kingdom  the 
least  of  whose  citizens  should  sit  on  thrones  judging 
the  peoples,  a  kingdom  in  which  all  should  be  priests 
and  kings,  in  which  every  sick  and  ailing  one  would 
have  his  ills  cured  by  magic,  where  would  be  no  op- 


^4  CHRISTIANITY 

pression,  toil,  or  poverty.  All  these  things  he  prom- 
ised, and  now  he  has  shown  himself  unable  to  save 
his  own  back  from  the  scourge  or  his  own  body  from 
the  cross.  We  are  delighted  that  he  has  been  found 
out. 

A  few  timid  and  terrified  friends  who  knew  him 
best  looked  on  from  a  safe  distance,  broken-hearted. 
Here  was  the  truest  and  noblest  man  they  had  ever 
known  or  imagined.  He  had  steadfastly  set  his  face 
toward  righteousness,  he  had  told  the  truth  to  priest 
and  publican  ahke,  he  had  led  his  friends  near  to 
God,  his  speech  had  been  as  the  speech  of  an  angel; 
he  had  been  pure  and  sweet  and  lovable  beyond  tell- 
ing; they  had  even  hoped  that  it  was  he  who  should 
redeem  Israel.  But  somehow  he  had  managed  to 
excite  the  hostility  of  all  the  powers,  he  had  been 
injudicious  and  careless  about  offending,  he  had  said 
things  about  himself  which  when  misinterpreted  had 
the  color  of  blasphemy.  Now  all  these  hateful  forces 
had  closed  about  him  and  brought  him  to  an  ig- 
nominious and  horrible  death.  And  they  looked  him  a 
despairing  and  final  farewell. 

A  single  mercenary  of  the  legion,  leaning  indif- 
ferently with  arms  folded  about  the  shaft  of  his 
spear,  heard  the  broken  sentences  which  fell  from 
the  dying  man's  bloody  lips,  marked  his  bearing,  dig- 
nified even  in  his  extremity,  and  muttered  to  himself 
that  this  time  at  any  rate  the  law  had  miscarried, 
this  man  was  surely  innocent. 

This  is  what  the  spectators  saw, — and  this  is  all 


IMMORAL  SALVATION  25 

they  saw, — a  middle-aged  man  was  being  crucified. 
When  he  was  dead  thej  went  their  ways,  having  seen 
all  there  was  to  see. 

But  for  many  centuries  myriads  of  Christian  eyes 
have  converged  upon  the  same  scene,  and  have  dis- 
cerned in  it,  or  believe  that  they  have  seen  in  it,  a 
thing  which  was  not  visible  to  the  lookers.  To  their 
eyes  the  Cross  has  been  transformed  into  an  Altar; 
the  Man  has  been  transmuted  to  a  Lamb ;  the  crucified 
Galilean  has  become  a  Great  High  Priest;  the 
soldier  with  stained  spear  has  become  an  unsuspect- 
ing Levite;  the  gushing  blood  has  become  ethereal- 
ized  into  smoke  ascending  to  the  gratified  nostrils  of 
an  angry  God;  the  turbid  crowd  have  become,  all 
unconscious,  the  beneficiaries  of  a  Sacrifice  offered 
under  the  dome  of  heaven  for  all  the  inhabitants  of 
earth. 

May  the  event  in  history  be  thus  construed?  Is 
this  the  true  interpretation  of  that  great  tragedy  .f* 
If  not,  what  will  explain  the  rise  and  vogue  of  the 
strange  and  ghastly  fiction?  We  cannot  disguise  the 
situation.  If  this  interpretation  be  not  true  to  real- 
ity we  must  deny  one  of  the  most  widely  current  and 
generally  accepted  notions  about  Christ  and  his  place 
in  the  scheme  of  things.  I  say  accepted  rather  than 
believed,  for  when  the  notion  is  plainly  stated  in 
terms  with  which  the  understanding  can  deal,  its 
intrinsic  incoherence  and  its  ethical  monstrosity  must 
compel  its  rejection.  Nevertheless,  it  remains  as  an 
idol  of  the  imagination  before  which  generations  have 


26  CHRISTIANITY 

prostrated  themselves,  and  whose  grim  hideousness 
is  hid  from  the  devotees  by  the  smoke  of  their  own 
incense.  Of  all  the  conceptions  actually  existent 
within  Christendom  this  is  probably  the  most  widely 
diffused.  Most  Christians  indeed  would  be  likely  to 
aver  that  underlying  all  their  doctrinal  and  ecclesi- 
astical disagreements  they  are  at  one  in  what  they 
would  call  the  fundamental  belief  that  Christ  was  a 
Sacrifice  offered  to  appease  the  anger  of  an  outraged 
God,  and  that  it  has  been  so  far  efficacious  that  it 
has  left  God  with  no  valid  claim  against  any  man  who 
will  take  the  proper  steps  to  interpose  this  safe- 
guard between  God's  judgments  and  himself. 

"  O  tree  of  glory,  tree  most  fair, 
Ordained  those  holy  limbs  to  bear, 
How  bright  in  purple  robe  it  stood. 
The  purple  of  a  Saviour's  blood. 

"  Upon   its   arms,   like   balance  true, 
He  weighed  the  price  from  sinners  due. 
The  price  which  none  but  he  could  pay. 
And  spoiled  the  spoiler  of  his  prey  ". 

It  is  the  burden  of  the  Roman  Mass  and  the  Halle- 
lujah lassie's  exhortation,  of  the  revivalist's  hymns 
and  the  cultus  of  the  Sacred  Heart.  It  is  the  gloomy 
theme  of  mediaeval  art,  hangs  darkly  about  the 
stained  glass  of  cathedral  windows,  is  enshrined  in  a 
myriad  pyxes,  is  what  the  wayfaring  man  takes  to  be 
the  central  article  of  the  Christian  creed. 

The  Greek  Church  says,  "  He  has  done  and  suf- 


IMMORAL  SALVATION  27 

fered  in  our  stead  all  that  was  necessary  for  the  re- 
mission of  our  sins  ". 

The  Roman  Church  says,  "  It  was  a  sacrifice  most 
acceptable  unto  God,  offered  by  his  Son  on  the  altar 
of  the  cross,  which  entirely  appeased  the  wrath  and 
indignation  of  the  Father  ". 

The  Westminster  Confession  says,  "  The  Lord 
Jesus  by  his  perfect  sacrifice  of  himself  hath  fully 
satisfied  the  justice  of  his  Father,  and  hath  purchased 
reconciliation  and  entrance  into  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven  for  all  whom  his  Father  hath  given  him  ". 

The  two  conceptions  upon  which  the  dogma  rests 
are,  appeasement  of  an  angry  God  by  pain ;  and  sub- 
stitution of  a  victim  in  the  room  and  stead  of  an 
offender.  We  must  hold  the  dogma  to  its  real  and 
intended  meaning.  For  a  notable  tendency  is  evident 
in  contemporary  orthodoxy  to  retain  the  terms  of 
the  doctrine  while  throwing  overboard  its  contents. 
It  has  begun  to  be  realized  in  many  quarters  that  both 
its  ethical  conception  of  God  and  its  moral  estimate 
of  man  are  unworthy.  But  the  attempt  is  being  made 
to  save  that  sacrosanct  thing  called  "  sacrifice  "  by 
giving  it  an  exalted  and  unnatural  meaning.  This 
must  not  be  allowed.  It  has  been  held  before  the 
world  for  ages  as  the  true  interpretation  and  present- 
ment of  the  essential  meaning  of  Christ.  If  it  be 
not  true  it  ought  to  be  cast  out  as  an  intruder  within 
the  holy  place.  Propitiation  of  God  by  sacrifice,  and 
the  transference  of  righteousness  from  the  innocent 
to  the  guilty,  are  of  the  very  essence  of  it.     These 


28  CHRISTIANITY 

are  both  survivals  from  ancient  paganism.  To  up- 
root them  was  the  purpose  of  Judaism  and  Chris- 
tianity. Judaism  failed,  and  perished  through  being 
itself  slowly  transformed  into  idolatry.  Christianity 
has  been  saved  thus  far  from  a  like  failure  only  be- 
cause it  has  within  it  the  living  Christ.  But  the  time 
must  come,  and  ought  not  to  be  far  distant,  when  his 
work  among  men  will  be  represented  in  terms  and 
images  freed  from  the  taint  of  an  outgrown  sav- 
agery. 

Propitiatory  sacrifice  belongs  at  a  stage  of  devel- 
opment through  which  all  peoples  pass.  At  that 
stage  God  and  the  devil  for  them  are  one.  They 
suspect  themselves  to  be  in  the  presence  of  unseen 
powers  which  are  able  to  help  or  hurt.  Their  gods 
are  even  such  as  they  themselves  are.  If  they  are 
unwilling  they  can  be  bribed;  if  they  are  angry  they 
can  be  appeased  by  presents.  The  African  savage 
offers  his  demon  a  goat,  the  South  Sea  Islander 
placates  his  god  with  a  plantain  or  a  fish,  the  Phoe- 
nician mother  bums  her  babe  to  appease  Moloch,  the 
Mexican  priest  tears  the  heart  from  a  comely  youth 
and  holds  it  dripping  toward  the  heavens.  It  is  to 
avert  the  anger  or  to  bribe  the  good  offices  of  a  god. 
At  a  later  point  the  "  scapegoat "  idea  enters. 
Every  year  at  the  Thurgelia  the  Athenians  dragged 
a  man  and  a  maid  to  the  brink  of  the  Acropolis  and 
hurled  them  to  death  that  they  might  bear  away  a 
year's  sins  from  the  city  of  the  Violet  Crown.  Ro- 
mans threw  their  victims  from  the  Tarpeian  Rock  to 


IMMORAL  SALVATION  29 

the  same  end.  In  Babylon  a  young  man  was  crucified 
at  the  summer  solstice  to  bear  away  the  sins  of  the 
people. 

It  has  been  a  fond  device  of  theology  to  interpret 
all  these  cruel  customs  as  unconscious  prophecies  of 
the  Great  Sacrifice  to  be  made  at  the  right  time  for 
the  sins  of  the  whole  world, — as  but  fragmentary 
shadows  of  the  Cross  flung  backward  along  the  dim 
pathway  of  human  history.  Especially  has  this 
sanction  been  claimed  for  the  bloody  rites  of  Israel. 
This  claim  is  utterly  without  support.  The  whole 
weight  of  evolutionary  science  and  ordered  history 
is  against  it.  These  phenomena  are  coming  to  be 
more  and  more  intelligible,  and  indeed  to  have  a  worth 
of  their  own,  but  this  is  because  they  are  seen  to  be 
the  natural  and  spontaneous  expression  of  religion 
at  a  stage  of  evolution  where  men  are  otherwise  ig- 
norant and  brutal.  They  bear  the  same  relation  to 
the  religion  of  Christ  as  do  the  crude  moral  judg- 
ments of  savage  man  to  the  morality  of  Jesus.  But 
the  attempt  to  interpret  him  in  terms  of  primitive 
cult  is  to  shut  up  the  sun  of  righteousness  in  tro- 
glodytic  caves. 

Nor  ought  we  to  be  any  longer  misled  to  believe 
that  the  institutes  of  Moses  and  the  Levitical  Sys- 
tem bear  any  different  relation  to  Christ.  The  Sacri- 
ficial System  was  no  institute  of  Moses,  either  with 
or  without  divine  sanction.  What  that  great  re- 
ligious master  did  in  the  region  of  worship  was  the 
counterpart  of  what  he  effected  in  the  sphere  of  law. 


30  CHRISTIANITY 

When,  for  example,  he  fixed  the  law  of  retaliation  at 
"  an  eye  for  an  eye  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth  ",  he  was 
not  establishing  a  code  of  vengeance.  On  the  con- 
trary, he  was  confining  within  the  narrowest  compass 
possible  a  custom  of  vengeance  universally  prevalent. 
It  was  an  immeasurable  gain  over  what  went  before 
to  limit  the  thirst  of  revenge  within  the  bounds  of 
a  rough-and-ready  equity.  The  avenger  must  not 
hurt  the  victim  more  than  he  himself  had  been 
wronged.  The  whole  Mosaic  code  was,  moreover, 
wonderfully  designated  to  eliminate  those  "  wild  jus- 
tices "  which  at  the  time  it  could  do  no  more  than 
restrain.  So  with  Sacrifice.  It  was  an  ethnic  custom, 
universal,  extravagant,  cruel.  The  backward  people 
whom  Moses  led  knew  no  other  mode  in  which  to 
express  their  piety.  What  he  did  was  to  limit  the 
custom  within  the  narrowest  bounds  possible  at  the 
time  and  place.  He  did  not  pronounce  it  good,  nor 
did  he  contemplate  its  perpetuity.  His  successors, 
the  prophets,  ceaselessly  strove  to  give  the  every-day 
devotion  of  the  people  a  higher  and  more  reasonable 
direction.  Their  ideal  was  never  the  culmination 
and  crowning  of  the  custom  in  a  victim  whose  value 
would  be  absolute  and  pain  infinite.  They  looked  for 
the  custom,  and  the  conception  of  God  upon  which 
it  rested,  to  perish  and  be  left  behind. 

They  declare  again  and  again  that  it  was  a  wor- 
ship distasteful  to  the  Almighty.  The  history  of 
Israel  is  as  simple  as  it  is  melancholy.  The  Prophets 
and   the   Hierarchy   strove  together  throughout   its 


IMMORAL  SALVATION  31 

course.  Finally  the  voice  of  the  prophet  ceased  and 
the  priest  remained  in  possession.  Five  centuries  be- 
fore Christ  that  System  which  was  not  of  Moses,  but 
elaborated  in  pagan  Babylon,  was  set  up  in  all  its 
gorgeous  barbarity,  and  from  that  time  on  the  moral 
declension  of  the  Hebrews  was  steady  and  inexorable. 
Religion  was  for  them  the  placation  of  God  by  gifts ; 
holiness  was  a  ceremonial  cleanliness  with  no  moral 
quality.  The  prophet  cried  in  vain  his  "  thus  saith 
the  Lord,  to  what  purpose  is  the  multitude  of  your 
sacrifices  to  me?  I  am  surfeited  with  the  burnt  of- 
ferings of  rams  and  the  fat  of  fed  beasts,  and  I  de- 
light not  in  the  blood  of  bullocks  or  of  lambs  or  of 
he  goats.  Who  hath  required  this  at  your  hands 
when  you  come  to  tread  my  courts  "  ?  It  was  a  re- 
ligion of  the  shambles  and  the  medicine-man,  and 
broke  itself  to  pieces  against  the  Son  of  Man. 

And  yet  within  three  centuries  of  his  crucifixion  we 
find  this  ancient  idol  enthroned  upon  the  altar  of 
the  Christian  Church.  What  will  explain  or  account 
for  this  hideous  changeling  in  the  holy  cradle?  How 
comes  it  that  the  God  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ  became  identified  with  Moloch,  and  the  Babe 
of  Bethlehem  with  the  child  of  a  Philistine  woman? 
That  the  cross  was  interpreted  to  the  conscience  in 
terms  intelligible  only  to  Levites  and  Shamans?  It 
is  alas,  only  too  easy  to  account  for  it.  But  before 
entering  upon  the  task  to  explain  the  presence  of 
this  misconception  of  Christ's  work  it  would  be  well, 
if  possible,  to  estimate  the  mischief  it  has  wrought. 


S2  CHRISTIANITY 

Probably  most  Christian  ministers  will  agree  that  it 
is  growing  increasingly  difficult  for  them  to  gain  a 
hearing  for  their  Gospel.  They  will  agree  also  that 
those  most  difficult  to  win  are  the  good  men  rather 
than  the  bad  ones.  The  late  Professor  Bruce,  whose 
orthodoxy  none  will  question,  has  left  on  record  these 
strange  words,  "  I  am  disposed  to  think  that  a  great 
and  increasing  portion  of  the  moral  worth  of  society 
hes  outside  the  Christian  Church,  separated  from  it 
not  by  godlessness,  but  rather  by  exceptionally  in- 
tense moral  earnestness.  Many,  in  fact,  have  left 
the  Church  in  order  to  be  Christians  ". 

'  The  reasons  commonly  assigned  for  this  arrest  in 
the  progress  of  Christianity  are  no  doubt  real  rea- 
sons. They  are  such  as,  the  enormous  increase  in 
material  progress  and  luxury;  the  bewildering  ad- 
vance in  human  knowledge;  the  restless  commercial 
activity  which  marks  the  epoch;  the  domination  of 
the  physical  sciences ;  the  stubborn  moral  obtuseness 
of  the  masses,  and  such  like.  But  over  against  these 
stand  the  facts  that  the  intellectual  activity  and 
scepticism  of  the  Western  world  of  to-day  is  proba- 
bly far  less  than  that  of  the  Greek  world  to  which 
the  Apostles  preached ;  that  the  luxury  and  self-indul- 
gence which  encompass  the  Church  to-day  is  not  a 
circumstance  compared  with  that  of  the  Roman 
world  of  the  Csesars;  that  the  moral  darkness  of 
society  in  our  time  is  light  itself  by  contrast  with 
the  world  in  which  primitive  Christianity  won  its 
triumphs. 


iMMORAL  SALVATION  33 

But  there  is  this  difference:  the  religion  which 
the  Apostles  preached  was  one  whose  moral  ideas 
commanded  the  homage  of  all  whose  souls  it  touched. 
This  remained  true  for  centuries,  even  after  the 
bleeding  Christ  became  its  symbol.  Low  and  un- 
worthy as  was  the  plan  of  salvation  oifered  to  the 
Gauls  and  Franks,  the  Lombards  and  Northmen,  it 
was  still  immeasurably  above  the  ethical  standards 
of  their  own  religions.  It  is  a  commonplace  of  his- 
torical reflection  that  during  late  centuries  mission- 
ary zeal  has  accomplished  smaller  triumphs  than 
during  the  first  centuries  or  in  the  Middle  Ages.  No 
people  has  been  converted  to  Christianity  for  a  thou- 
sand years.  There  are,  no  doubt,  many  explanations 
of  this.  But  there  is  one  which  the  Christian  man 
cannot  contemplate  without  pain.  It  is  that  the 
moral  ideals  of  men  have  overtaken  and  passed  above 
and  beyond  those  contained  in  the  popular  presenta- 
tions of  Christianity.  Endless  labor  has  been  ex- 
pended to  remove  the  intellectual  obstacles  in  the 
way.  Is  it  time  to  remind  ourselves  that  the  real 
difficulties  are  moral  ones  ?  Not  unworthy  Christians 
alone,  but  an  unworthy  Christ  is  the  stumbling-block. 
It  is  the  bald  fact  that  the  dogma  of  the  propitiatory 
sacrifice  of  Christ,  which  has  for  so  long  been  ex- 
hibited as  the  central  truth  of  Christianity,  is  now 
rejected  by  a  society  whose  moral  sense  has  outgrown 
it.  The  whole  scheme  of  which  it  forms  the  base  is 
felt  to  be  immoral  as  well  as  untrue. 

The  average  man  of  to-day  does  not  believe  that 


34  .  CHRISTIANITY 

human  nature  is  but  the  moral  wreck  and  debris  of 
an  Edenic  man.  He  refuses  to  believe  that  guilt  is 
hereditary  in  any  sense,  though  he  knows  well  that 
sin  is.  He  believes  that  the  law  against  the  attainder 
of  blood  is  written  in  the  constitution  of  the  uni- 
verse. He  will  not  believe  that  a  course  of  action 
which  would  be  wrong  for  a  man  can  be  right  for 
God.  The  human  idea  of  justice  demands  that  the 
penalty  shall  fall  upon  the  person  who  offends  and 
not  upon  some  one  in  his  stead,  even  though  the 
sovereign  furnish  the  victim  and  the  substitute  be  ever 
so  willing.  At  a  certain  stage  of  moral  advancement 
Zaleucus,  king  of  the  Locrians,  could  be  admired  and 
revered.  His  law  required  that  the  adulterer  should 
lose  his  eyes.  When  his  own  son  was  convicted  of 
the  offence,  his  father,  to  save  the  sanctity  of  the 
law  and  at  the  same  time  allow  his  love  to  act,  com- 
manded that  one  of  his  son's  eyes  and  one  of  his  own 
should  be  pulled  out.  The  world  of  that  day  looked 
upon  Zaleucus  as  a  miracle  of  goodness ;  the  world 
of  to-day  can  see  in  him  only  a  fond  and  foolish 
tyrant. 

Religious  thought  no  longer  moves  among  govern- 
mental ideas  and  legal  fictions.  It  has  become  bio- 
logical. In  the  processes  of  the  spirit  the  watchwords 
are  not  justification,  but  development;  not  salvation, 
but  character;  its  antitheses  are  not  acquittal  and 
condemnation,  but  living  and  perishing.  It  is  known 
that  hereditary  evil  is  a  force  which  works  within 
the  life,  and  not   a  penal  inheritance  passed  down 


IMMORAL  SALVATION  35 

from  an  ancestor.  It  believes  that  righteousness  is 
salvation,  and  that  nothing  else  can  be.  It  believes 
that  righteousness  in  men  is  the  wish  of  God,  and 
that  it  always  was  his  wish,  and  they  do  not  believe 
that  there  is  now  or  ever  was  in  the  nature  or  statutes 
of  God  any  obstacle  which  had  first  to  be  overcome 
before  men  could  be  permitted  to  begin  to  be  good, 
or  in  order  that  God  might  think  their  goodness 
good.  To  a  world  at  this  stage  "  vicarious  "  re- 
demption cannot  be  preached.  They  will  not  accept 
it  at  any  price.  If  they  be  still  assured  that  this  is 
really  God's  method,  they  will  answer  with  John 
Stuart  Mill,  "  I  will  call  no  being  good  who  is  not 
what  I  mean  when  I  apply  that  epithet  to  my  fellow- 
man;  and  if  such  a  being  can  sentence  me  to  hell 
for  not  so  calling  him,  to  hell  I  will  go  ". 

The  well-meant  attempts  to  find  analogies  to  the 
doctrine  in  the  experiences  of  life  are  rejected  by 
the  intelligence  and  the  conscience  alike.  Every  one 
knows  that  the  good  and  innocent  are  always  suffer- 
ing for  the  faults  of  the  bad.  But  every  one  knows 
also  that  this  suffering  does  not  lessen  but  increases 
the  blame  for  the  one  who  takes  advantage  from  the 
pain.  Every  martyr  of  a  holy  cause  sacrifices  him- 
self deliberately,  but  that  does  not  render  innocent 
the  multitude  who  stone  him.  The  mother  starves 
herself  that  her  children  may  eat;  the  engineer  goes 
down  to  death  with  his  hand  on  the  reverse  lever  that 
the  passengers  may  be  saved;  the  merchant  pays  his 
friend's  debts  to  save  his  friend's  good  name.     But 


36  CHRISTIANITY 

none  of  these  have  anything  in  common  with  that 
interpretation  of  Christ's  sufferings  which  we  de- 
nounce. In  none  of  these  things  is  there  anything 
like  a  transference  of  moral  status  or  an  "  imputa- 
tion "  of  righteousness.  They  are  all,  indeed,  gath- 
ered up  within  that  eternal  cross-bearing  which  is 
the  concomitant  of  loving.  In  the  heart  of  their 
blessed  company  is  indeed  the  eternal  Soldier,  Martyr, 
Mother-soul,  who  was  crucified  in  God  before  the 
world  was.  But  they  have  nothing  in  common  with 
a  victim  bound  upon  an  altar  and  immolated  by  a 
priest. 

Could  any  two  conceptions  be  more  utterly  contra- 
dictory than  the  classic  sayings  of  Jesus,  "  If  any  man 
would  be  my  disciple  let  him  deny  himself  and  take 
up  his  cross  and  follow  me.  Not  every  man  who 
sayeth  unto  me  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  into  the  king- 
dom of  heaven,  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  my 
Father  who  is  in  heaven  ",  and  the  classic  hymn, 

"  Rock  of  Ages,  cleft  for  me, 
Let  me  hide  myself  in  thee; 
Let  the  water  and  the  blood 
From  thy  side,  a  healing  flood. 
Be  of  sin  the  double  cure. 
Save  from  guilt  and  make  me  pure. 

"  Should  my  tears  forever  flow. 
Should  my  zeal  no  languor  know, 
All  for  sin  could  not  atone, 
Thou  must  save  and  thou  alone; 
In  my  hand  no  price  I  bring, 
Simply  to  thy  cross  I  cling"? 


IMMORAL  SALVATION  SI 

In  popular  speech  the  content  of  the  dogma  in 
question  is  expressed  by  the  term  "  Redemption  ". 
The  word  means  to  buy  off  or  to  buy  back.  It  is  a 
commercial  term.  The  captive  held  by  Barbary 
pirates  or  Sicilian  brigands  is  bought  and  set  free. 
The  Order  of  Redemptorists  took  its  name  from  this. 
They  were  redeemers.  In  Teutonic  custom  the  con- 
victed felon  could  compound  for  a  price,  so  much  for 
a  limb,  so  much  for  an  eye,  so  much  for  a  life.  But 
in  what  do  these  resemble  the  action  of  Bishop  Bien- 
venue  which  warranted  him  in  saying  to  Jean  Valjean, 
"  You  are  mine ;  I  have  bought  you  "  ?  or  that  on 
account  of  which  the  Apostle  could  say,  "  Ye  are 
not  your  own ;  ye  are  bought  with  a  price  "  ?  Christ's 
blood  a  ransom  paid  to  the  devil,  as  was  for  long 
maintained?  A  price  to  an  angry  God  to  allay  his 
fury?  The  satisfaction  of  a  bond  held  by  an  al- 
mighty Shylock?  Each  and  every  one  of  these  con- 
tentions has  been  maintained  by  grave  and  respecta- 
ble systemizers.  Augustine,  Anselm,  Luther,  Calvin. 
These  are  great  names.  They  have  laid  their  hands 
upon  the  souls  of  millions,  dead  and  living.  Sin- 
cerely believing  that  they  were  preaching  Christ,  they 
have  propagated  a  gloomy  paganism  which  has  gone 
far  to  render  the  cross  of  Christ  of  none  effect. 

It  avails  not  to  be  told  that  these  gross  concep- 
tions are  misrepresentations  and  caricatures  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  Atonement  as  actually  held  and 
taught  by  intelligent  and  well-informed  Christians. 
They   are  not   caricatures;   they   are   photographs. 


38  CHRISTIANITY 

Nor  will  it  serve  to  say,  with  the  late  Archbishop 
Magee,  that,  "  so  far  as  they  have  any  color  of 
plausibility  they  rest  upon  the  impassioned  rhetoric 
of  the  pulpit  and  the  hymn-book  ".  Even  if  this 
were  so  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  pulpit  and 
the  hymn-book  are  the  accredited  vehicles  upon  which 
religious  teaching  is  bonie  to  the  people.  If  their 
burden  is  a  false  one  it  will  be  rightly  taken  for  the 
real  one.  No ;  what  the  Archbishop  truly  calls  "  this 
reversion  to  the  worst  ideas  of  pagan  sacrifice,  savor- 
ing of  the  heathen  temple  and  reeking  of  blood  ",  is 
woven  into  the  very  fabric  of  Confessions,  Articles, 
and  Liturgies.  It  is  seriously  defended  by  scientific 
theology  and  has  the  imprimatur  of  the  organized 
Church. 

We  return  now  to  the  question  of  how  to  account 
for  the  existence  and  persistence  of  a  presentation  of 
Christ  which  the  moral  sense  rejects.  I  have  said 
that  it  is  only  too  easy  to  account  for,  and  so  it  is,  so 
far  as  concerns  the  historic  law  which  operates  in  such 
a  case.  As  in  commerce  a  debased  currency  always 
tends  to  drive  a  precious  one  out  of  circulation,  so  in 
philosophy  and  religion  a  low  conception  can  hold 
the  field  long  against  a  noble  one.  This  is  what  has 
occurred  in  the  Christian  kingdom.  But  this  brings 
us  to  the  place  where  we  should  discover  when,  and 
where,  and  how,  the  spiritual  cuiTency  of  Christ  be- 
came thus  debased;  when  and  how  his  coin  came  to 
be  stamped  on  one  side  with  a  sacrificial  bull,  and 
on  the  other  with  a  mitred  priest. 


IMMORAL  SALVATION  39 

To  begin  with,  let  us  ask  the  plain  question, — Did 
Jesus  conceive  of  himself  as  a  propitiatory  sacrifice, 
or  of  his  work  as  an  expiation?     The  only  answer 
possible  is,  Clearly  he  did  not.    With  the  exception  of 
two  phrases   attributed  to  him,  and  which  we  will 
look  at  more  carefully  after  a  little,  there  is  not  the 
shadow  of  a  suggestion  that  such  an  idea  ever  en- 
tered his  mind.     And  there  is  everything  in  his  life 
to  show  that  the  whole  circle  of  ideas  in  which  this 
conception  is  imbedded  was  abhorrent  to  him.     It  is 
true  that  the  record  of  his  teaching  is  fragmentary 
and  incomplete,  but  there  is  quite  enough  in  the  Gos- 
pels to  show  what  he  believed  himself  to  be,  and  to 
be  doing.     If  the  primal  and  controlling  purpose  of 
his  existence  had  been  to  propitiate  the  wrath  of  God 
by  means  of  ct  painful  life  and  death,  surely  he  would 
somewhere  have   said   so.     But   it  is   the  one  thing 
which  he  does  not  say.     He  has  much  to  say  about 
himself  and  his  mission.     He  calls  himself  a  Light, 
to  reveal  God  and  illuminate  the  dark  places  of  life. 
He  is  a  Shepherd,  leading  a  flock,  guarding  it  against 
rapacious  beasts,  feeding  it,  seeking  the  mavericks, 
carrying  the  lambs  in  his  bosom.     He  is  a  Physician, 
diagnosing  the  ills  of  men,  precribing  medicaments 
for  their  cure,  laying  balm  upon  their  sores.     He  is 
a  Tribune  of  the  people,  disturbing  the  world's  dull 
and  ignoble  peace,  setting  a  man  at  variance  against 
his  father,  and  the  daughter  against  the  mother.    He 
is  Bread,  wholesome  for  the  soul's  food,  and  needful 
to  sustain  the  soul's  life.     He  is  Water,  to  assuage 


40  CHRISTIANITY 

the  soul's  thirst  and  lave  the  heart's  fever.  He  is 
Leaven,  to  stir  the  ferment  in  the  world's  sodden 
lump  which  shall  save  it  from  decay.  He  is  Salt, 
to  keep  the  world  wholesome.  He  is  the  Vine,  the 
Door,  the  Strong  Man,  the  Bridegroom,  the  Judge. 
But  he  does  not  call  himself  the  Victim  or  the  Priest. 

That  he  expected  and  intended  to  die,  is  plain 
enough.  But  he  nowhere  placed  upon  his  suffering 
and  death  the  interpretation  which  it  afterward 
came  to  bear.  In  all  his  sayings  which  have  been 
preserved,  he  gives  the  clear  impression  that  he  took 
his  privation  and  pain  and  death  as  being  "  in  the 
day's  work  ",  incidental  and  unavoidable  necessities 
of  the  task  which  he  had  undertaken,  but  not  as  the 
task  itself.  They  were  the  price  which  he  had  to  pay 
for  being  what  he  was.  But  there  is  no  intimation 
that  he  attributed  to  them  any  sacrificial  or  propi- 
tiatory value. 

To  the  above  statement  there  are  just  two  ex- 
ceptions. What  we  have  to  say  about  them  may 
best  be  introduced  by  showing  them  in  their  context. 

"Then  came  to  him.  the  mother  of  Zebedee's  children  with 
her  sons,  worshipping,  and  desiring  a  certain  thing  of  him. 
And  he  said  unto  her,  What  wilt  thou?  She  saith.  Grant 
that  these  my  two  sons  may  sit,  the  one  on  thy  right,  and 
the  other  on  thy  left  in  thy  kingdom.  But  Jesus  answered 
and  said  unto  her.  Ye  know  not  what  ye  ask.  .  .  .  The 
princes  of  the  gentiles  exercise  dominion,  and  they  that  are 
great  exercise  authority.  But  it  shall  not  be  so  among  you; 
but  whosoever  will  be  great  among  you,  let  him  be  your 
minister;    and    whosoever   will   be   chief   among   you,   let   him 


IMMORAL  SALVATION  41 

be  your  servant;  even  as  the  Son  of  man  came,  not  to  be 
ministered  to  but  to  minister;  and  to  give  his  life  a  ransom 
for  many  "j 

and 

"  And  as  they  were  eating  Jesus  took  bread  and  blessed  it 
and  brake  it,  and  gave  it  to  the  disciples,  saying.  Take;  eat;  this 
is  my  body.  And  he  took  the  cup  and  gave  thanks,  and  gave  it 
to  them  saying,  Drink  ye  all  of  it;  for  this  is  my  blood  of 
the  new  testament,  which  is  shed  for  many  for  the  remission 
of  sins  "» 

The  significant  phrases  are  those  in  italics,  "  to 
give  his  life  a  ransom  ",  and  "  blood  shed  for  the 
remission  of  sins  ".  Now,  let  it  be  well  kept  in  mind 
that  these  are  the  only  sayings  attributed  to  Jesus 
which  give  any  color  to  the  contention  that  he  re- 
garded himself  in  the  light  of  a  propitiatory  sacri- 
fice. And  let  it  be  further  remembered  that  they 
are  not  only  foreign  to  but  directly  opposed  to  the 
whole  tenor  of  his  teachings.  But  they  are  quite 
in  keeping  with  a  theory  concerning  Christ  which  grew 
up  during  the  fifty  years  between  his  death  and  the 
time  when  the  Gospels  were  written.  Within  that 
period  arose  the  Gospel  of  the  Infancy;  the  circum- 
stantial but  contradictory  accounts  of  the  Resur- 
rection ;  the  twisting  of  the  events  of  his  hfe  to  fit  the 
requirements  of  Hebrew  prophecy.  All  these  later 
ideas  were  antedated  in  the  written  Gospels.  In  the 
phrases  before  us  it  would  seem  that  we  have  an  in- 
stance of  the  same  thing  done  in  the  interest  of  theol- 
ogy. In  each  case  the  context  shows  plainly  that  the 
phrases  are  foreign  to  the  matter  in  hand.     Jesus' 


42  CHRISTIANITY 

argument  is  in  each  case  complete  without  them. 
One  cannot  but  feel  that  they  do  not  belong  there. 
The  Gospels  are  conversations  and  traditions  com- 
mitted to  writing  fifty  years  after  the  event.  If 
during  that  time  a  theory  concerning  the  Master's 
life  and  work  gained  currency  we  may  expect  that 
it  would  show  itself  in  shaping  the  written  story. 
That  such  a  theory  did  become  elaborated  during  that 
period  we  shall  see.  It  appears  more  reasonable, 
therefore,  to  believe  that  the  two  phrases  "  ransom  " 
and  "  remission  "  are  placed  in  Jesus'  mouth  by  a 
later  tradition  than  that  they  were  used  by  him,  and 
intended  to  present  a  conception  of  himself  which 
is  irreconcilable  with  his  own  plain  words. 

The  Acts  of  the  Apostles  contain  the  only  record 
we  have  of  the  terms  in  which  the  earliest  ambassadors 
of  Jesus  presented  his  Gospel.  The  book  gives  a 
brief  but  coherent  resume  of  four  speeches  by  St. 
Peter  at  Jerusalem  and  one  at  Cseserea ;  a  conversa- 
tion of  St.  Philip;  a  long  speech  of  Stephen;  the 
proceedings  and  discussions  of  a  Council;  and  a 
dozen  speeches  of  St.  Paul,  delivered  at  various 
places,  and  to  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  people.  In 
it  we  have  Christ  interpreted  by  his  earliest  inter- 
preters. Here,  if  anywhere,  we  ought  to  be  able  to 
discern  what  the  men  commissioned  by  himself  to 
present  him  actually  thought  about  him.  Now  the 
significant  fact  is  that  not  until  we  meet  the  very 
latest  speeches  of  St.  Paul  do  we  meet  the  intimation 
that  his  suflPering  and  death  had  any  sacrificial  value. 


IMMORAL  SALVATION  4.3 

It  is  true  that  phrases  occur  upon  which  that  inter- 
pretation has  been  put,  but  it  is  equally  plain  that  the 
interpretation  is  a  shadow  thrown  backward  from  a 
later  time.  By  the  evangelic  and  catholic  theologian 
their  discourses  must  needs  be  pronounced  lacking  in 
the  vital  and  essential  element  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ. 
It  is  to  the  wonderful  man  Paul  that  the  world  owes 
the  first  coherent  rationale  of  Jesus'  career.  The 
group  of  immediate  personal  friends  who  survived 
the  Master  were  neither  in  the  mood,  nor  were  they 
the  type  of  men,  to  set  down  in  reasoned  form  the 
experience  which  had  transformed  their  lives.  They 
were  still  under  the  spell  of  his  compelling  person- 
ality, and  they  were  overwhelmed  by  the  new-found 
hope  of  immortality  brought  to  them  by  his  appear- 
ance after  his  death.  The  hope  made  new  men  of  them 
and  they  were  confident  it  would  do  the  same  for  all 
who  should  hear  of  it.  They  preached  the  "  Gospel 
of  the  Resurrection  ".  And  so  did  Paul,  more  force- 
fully than  they  all.  For  a  time  he  preached  nothing 
else.  But  presently  he  began  to  reason  upon  what 
lay  behind  the  new-bom  hope.  He  therefore  found 
in  the  "  Expiation  "  a  ground  cleared  for  the  Resur- 
rection. Little  by  little  the  emphasis  is  transferred 
from  the  Resurrection  to  the  Crucifixion.  Then  more 
and  more  the  Crucifixion  is  Identified  with  the  Hebrew 
and  ethnic  conception  of  Sacrifice.  Finally  the  Resur- 
rection falls  into  the  background,  and  his  thoughts 
take  on  a  crimson  hue.  Three  interpretations  of 
Christ   lie    superimposed    in   his    system,   biological, 


U  CHRISTIANITY 

legal,  sacrificial,  but  in  the  end  the  last  comes  to 
dominate. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  this  interpretation  gained 
currency.  The  early  Christians,  whether  Roman, 
Greek,  or  Jew,  came  to  the  new  religion  with  precon- 
ceptions and  habits  of  thought  already  formed.  It  is 
not  possible  for  any  one  anywhere  to  disentangle 
himself  from  old  beliefs  while  he  takes  in  new  truth. 
The  most  he  can  do  is  to  readjust  such  of  his  old 
convictions  as  lie  in  immediate  contact  with  the  new 
one.  But  underneath  these  there  is  the  whole  con- 
tents of  his  mind.  The  new  truth  sinks  down  among 
these,  and  is  colored  by  them  while  it  transforms 
them.  When  he  attempts  to  utter  new  truth  he  can 
only  do  it  in  language  and  imagery  which  he  already 
possesses.  It  requires  long  time  for  the  new  idea 
either  to  work  over  the  old  ideas  to  its  uses,  or  to 
escape  from  them  altogether  by  building  up  a  new 
imagery  about  itself.  The  truth  of  Christ  could  not 
escape  these  inevitable  conditions.  He  lived  and  died 
in  Judea,  under  Roman  law,  and  his  life  was  construed 
by  Roman  Jews.  In  being  transmitted  through  their 
minds  it  received  a  coloring  which  it  still  retains. 
The  Great  Surrender  was  pictured  in  Levitical  terms. 
The  Light  of  the  world  shone  out  through  the  stained 
window  of  the  temple  at  Jerusalem.  This  refraction 
and  discoloration  must  be  allowed  for  by  a  world 
which  would  see  the  Sun  in  his  glory.  Paul,  a  Roman 
citizen  as  well  as  a  Pharisee  of  the  Pharisees,  min- 
gled his  pigments  in  colors  borne  from  Roman  law 


IMMORAL  SALVATION  45 

and  Hebrew  sacrifice.  One  could  as  well  construct 
a  zoology  as  a  gospel  in  these  terms.  Christian 
thought  has  been  bewildered  and  Christian  instinct 
wellnigh  defeated  by  this  logically  coherent  but  empty 
scheme.  Christ's  terms  are  biological ;  this  one's  are 
legal.  And  Christianity  is  essentially  a  life  process 
and  not  a  commercial  transaction. 


THE  CHRIST  OF  THE  GOSPELS 


"  It  is  indeed  a  strange  and  significant  thing:  so  much 
speculation  about  Christ,  so  little  earnest  inquiry  into 
his  actual  mind;  so  much  knowledge  of  what  the  creeds 
or  confessions,  the  liturgies  or  psalmodies  of  the  Church 
said;  so  little  knowledge  of  the  historical  person  or  con- 
struction of  the  original  documents.  It  is  still  more  sig- 
nificant that  the  men  most  intent  on  the  revival  of  reli- 
gion through  the  revival  of  the  Church  were  the  very- 
men  who  seemed  least  to  conceive  the  need  of  the  return 
to  Christ.  They  were  possessed  to  find  and  restore  the 
Church  of  the  Fathers,  and  to  the  Fathers  they  ap- 
pealed; but  there  is  no  suggestion  that  Christ  as  the 
founder  supplied  the  determinative  idea  of  his  own 
Church  ". — Fairbairn. 


in 

THE  CHRIST  OF  THE  GOSPELS 

If,  then,  the  interpretation  of  Jesus  which  we  have 
just  examined  be  dismissed  as  an  offence  at  once  to 
the  intelligence  and  the  conscience,  what  then  is  his 
real  role  in  the  drama  of  humanity?  To  this,  I  reply 
as  follows: — Christianity  takes  its  rise  not  from  the 
life  or  the  death  of  Jesus,  but  from  his  "  resurrec- 
tion ".  It  was  not  until  after  that  event  that  his 
personality  assumed  any  world-wide  significance.  If 
that  had  not  taken  place,  his  life,  assuming  it  to  have 
been  otherwise  exactly  as  recorded,  would  not  have 
been  of  significance.  It  would  have  been  strange  and 
that  is  all.  He  would  no  doubt  have  held  place  in 
human  memory  only  as  a  greater  Confucius  or  Soc- 
rates. It  was  the  "  man  risen  from  the  dead  "  who 
arrested  the  world's  attention,  and  it  noticed  him 
solely  on  that  account. 

Let  me  say  here  that  if  any  one  chooses  to  take  the 
position  that  the  alleged  occurrence  is  so  inherently 
incredible  and  impossible  that  even  to  consider  it  is 
folly,  I  have  nothing  to  say  to  him,  except  something 
like  this: — ^We  realize  as  fully  as  you  do  that  it  is 
contrary  to  all  human  experience,  and  that  probably 

49 


50  CHRISTIANITY 

no  amount  of  evidence  would  establish  it  at  the  bar 
of  science.  But  we  realize  also  that  human  experi- 
ence is  not  final.  What  you  and  we  alike  call  the 
"  order  of  Nature  "  is^  after  all,  no  more  or  less  than 
God's  routine  way  of  doing  things.  It  has  no  dynamic 
in  itself.  It  can  neither  cause  nor  hinder.  It  is  at 
least  possible  that  in  the  experience  of  a  race  a 
critical  point  may  be  reached  where  something  out 
of  the  common  ought  to  happen.  If  so  we  may  be 
sure  it  will  happen.  All  that  can  be  said  against 
the  event  in  question  is  that  it  stands  alone  and  iso- 
lated among  phenomena.  What  then?  Cannot  a 
fact  be  a  fact  until  there  be  another  like  it.f^  As  to 
this  fact  we  contend  there  is  abundant  reason  for  its 
being.  There  is  also  reason  to  believe  that  it  does 
not  stand  alone. 

The  essential  nature  of  the  fact  has  been  long 
obscured  by  a  crowd  of  pious  imaginations  which 
have  overlaid  it.  Let  it  be  plainly  stated  that  there 
is  here  no  question  of  the  resuscitation  of  a  man  who 
was  dead.  It  is  not  a  question  of  a  body  but  of  a 
spirit.  The  body  which  hung  upon  the  cross  was 
laid  in  the  tomb,  and  no  doubt  stayed  there.  The 
late  stories  in  the  Gospels  of  the  empty  tomb,  the 
earthquake,  the  great  stone,  the  angelic  appearances, 
and  so  on,  are  so  contradictory  as  to  be  in-econcila- 
ble.  They  were  not  written,  in  any  case,  until  fifty 
years  after  the  occurrence,  after  every  contemporary 
was  dead.  Like  the  prodigies  of  the  Infancy,  they  ap- 
pear to  be  the  product  of  a  naive  piety  which  thought 


THE  CHRIST  OF  THE  GOSPELS        51 

to  make  the  birth,  life,  death,  and  resurrection  of  their 
dear  Lord  more  credible  by  gathering  about  them 
the  marvels  which  were  to  that  age  the  kind  of  evi- 
dence which  told  most.  For  our  time  such  "  evi- 
dence "  is  only  an  embarrassment.  And  there  is  no 
need  for  it.  To  prove  that  Jesus  appeared  to  sundry 
persons  after  his  death  it  is  of  no  consequence 
whether  his  tomb  was  empty  or  filled.  The  affair 
does  not  concern  the  body,  but  that,  whatever  it  is, 
which  survives  the  body.  No  police  examination  of 
a  grave  can  affect  the  case.  It  is  reported  that  the 
late  Professor  James  promised  that  he  would,  if  pos- 
sible, show  himself  after  his  death  to  certain  of  his 
friends.  Suppose  his  promise  to  have  been  fulfilled, 
is  it  conceivable  that  they  would  have  thought  of 
testing  the  reality  of  his  appearance  by  an  inspec- 
tion of  his  grave?  They  would  not  look  for  a  body. 
All  that  they  would  demand  would  be  to  be  able  to 
identify  the  thing  which  should  appear  with  their 
friend  who  had  died. 

What  it  was  that  St.  Paul  saw  on  the  Damascus 
road,  that  Mary  Magdalene  saw  in  the  garden,  that 
the  two  disciples  saw  on  the  road  to  Emmaus,  that 
sundry  friends  of  the  dead  Jesus  saw  at  different 
times,  who  can  say?  The  grosser  accretions  to  their 
story  which  have  crept  later  into  the  Gospels,  only 
becloud  the  reality.  The  heart  of  the  matter  is  that 
they  saw  something  which  transformed  their  despair 
into  confidence,  their  grief  into  rejoicing,  and 
through  them  brought  into  humanity  a  conception 


5^  CHRISTIANITY 

of  human  life  which  has  transformed  the  world.  This 
something  is  the  Resurrection. 

The  point  in  Jesus'  career  at  which  he  comes  into 
relation  with  all  human  life  is  after  he  had  died  and 
was  alive  again.  Even  his  disciples  who  had  known 
him  most  intimately  were  obliged  to  make  his  ac- 
quaintance anew.  He  whom  we  seek  to  know  is  not 
the  historical  personage  localized  in  a  Roman  prov- 
ince in  the  time  of  any  Caesar,  but  the  transcendental 
personage,  of  infinitely  "  wide  discourse,  looking  be- 
fore and  after  ".  The  cry  "  back  to  Jesus  "  which 
has  arisen  sporadically  at  so  many  places  in  Chris- 
tendom of  late  years,  voices  a  real  and  justifiable 
longing.  It  expresses  the  impatient  feeling  that 
Christ  has  in  some  way  been  lost  in  Christianity ;  that 
he  has  been  overlaid  and  hidden  within  theological 
definitions,  thrust  out  of  sight  behind  ecclesiastical 
organizations,  silenced  amid  the  strife  of  tongues.  It 
is  certainly  true  that  something  has  interposed  be- 
tween Christ  and  the  great  world.  A  religion  that 
he  meant  to  be  so  plain  that  the  wayfaring  man  might 
not  err  therein,  has  come  to  be  regarded  as  complex, 
abstruse,  obscure. 

But  while  this  longing  is  intelligible  and  praise- 
worthy, one  is  bound  to  acknowledge  that  it  is  miss- 
ing its  aim.  The  fact  is,  the  pilgrims  have  gone 
back  in  search  of  the  wrong  Christ.  During  the  last 
half  century  a  wealth  of  learning,  labor,  and  even 
genius  have  been  expended  in  the  attempt  to  repro- 
duce the  historic  personage  and  make  him  real.    The 


THE  CHRIST  OF  THE  GOSPELS        53 

Holy  Land  has  been  explored,  studied,  photographed, 
in  its  minutest  detail.  The  naive  story  in  the  Gospels 
has  been  drawn  out  into  "  Lives  of  Christ "  by  the 
score.  His  antecedents  have  been  traced  in  Jewish 
heredity.  His  dress,  food,  manners,  speech,  sur- 
roundings, have  been  reconstructed  with  infinite  de- 
votion, and  no  doubt,  with  substantial  accuracy. 
More  information  concerning  the  setting  of  his  life 
is  taught  every  day  in  mission  Sunday  schools  than 
Athanasius  or  Paul  possessed.  But  when  all  is  done 
the  earnest  man  is  not  much  less  bewildered  and 
hopeless  among  these  antiquaries  than  was  his  an- 
cestors among  fine-spun  theologies.  They  cannot  see 
the  forest  for  the  trees. 

The  life  of  the  man  Jesus  does  become  of  absorb- 
ing interest,  but  only  in  its  proper  order  and  for  its 
proper  purpose.  Not  until  the  "  risen  "  Christ  en- 
gaged the  world's  attention  did  it  even  try  to  re- 
member, much  less  to  record  the  story,  of  his  life. 
Then  the  devotion  of  a  too  creative  memory  recorded 
too  much.  But  the  belief  in  it  has.  In  sober  verity, 
wrought  the  most  momentous  result  in  human  his- 
tory. It  transformed  man's  estimate  of  himself  and 
of  God.  The  fact  was  the  essential  content  of  the 
Apostle's  evangel.  Their  message  was  not  atonement, 
or  redemption,  or  heaven  or  hell,  but  the  announce- 
ment that  a  good  man  had  been  identified  by  them 
alive,  after  they  had  seen  him  dead  and  burled,  and 
that  he  had  assured  them  that  the  same  possibility  was 
open  to  any  man  who  would  seek  it  in  the  right  way. 


54  CHRISTIANITY 

Those  who  could  comprehend  the  "  good  news  "  wel- 
comed it  with  the  same  kind  of  awed  enthusiasm  as 
would  one  to-day  who  should  be  offered  a  means  of 
adding  fifty,  a  hundred,  a  thousand  years  to  his  nat- 
ural life.  Their  argument  was  that  Jesus  had  made 
an  experiment  in  human  living,  and  had  demonstrated 
in  his  own  person  that  death  need  not  defeat  life, 
and  that  he  had  become  a  kind  of  first-fruits  of  an 
immortal  harvest  which  might  be  abundant  if  men 
so  chose.  It  is  no  doubt  quite  impossible  for  us  to 
whom  this  is  no  longer  news  to  understand  with 
what  eagerness  this  message  was  hailed,  or  how  over- 
whelmingly it  took  possession  of  the  minds  and  im- 
aginations of  men  who  before  had  no  expectation  of 
future  life  of  any  kind.  Indeed  the  fear  of  death 
and  hopelessness  in  its  presence  is  a  characteristic 
of  the  ancient  world.  Lucretius  and  Cicero  in  vain 
wrote  labored  treatises  to  reason  its  terrors  away. 
The  epitaphs  on  a  thousand  tombs  register  the  flip- 
pant melancholy  or  the  profound  hopelessness  of 
their  grief  for  their  dead. 

The  original  appeal  of  the  Gospel  was  to  the  su- 
preme aspiration  of  all  living  beings,  the  "  lust  of 
living  ".  It  is  little  wonder  that  the  first  title  ap- 
plied to  Christ  was  the  "  Lord  and  Giver  of  Life  ". 
And  it  is  as  little  wonder  that  the  appeal  was  so  im- 
measurably more  successful  than  the  sordid  one  to 
the  fear  of  damnation  which  has  been  made  for  now 
these  so  many  centuries! 

But  having  come  so  far  we  must  now  face  the  ques- 


THE  CHRIST  OF  THE  GOSPELS        55 

tion : — What  and  who  was  and  is  the  Christ  whom  we 
believe  to  be  superhuman?  The  first  converts  appar- 
ently made  little  or  no  effort  to  estimate  his  nature. 
They  were  content  to  take  the  Gospel  as  it  was  prof- 
fered. They  believed  that  if  they  lived  according  to 
the  "  Way  "  announced  they  would,  like  him,  survive 
their  own  deaths.  The  common  notion  now  current 
that  men  are  naturally  immortal  in  any  case  was 
unknown  to  them.  They  were  convinced  that  by  his 
"  way  "  only  could  they  outlast  death,  and  that  by 
any  other  way  they  would  perish  out  of  being.  The 
steadfastness  of  the  early  Christians  in  the  face  of 
obloquy,  persecution,  and  torture  has  long  been  a 
gratuitous  puzzle  to  historians.  Of  all  the  ingenious 
explanations,  marshalled  by  Gibbon  and  his  like,  for 
the  marvellous  spread  of  Christianity  in  the  first  two 
centuries,  this  sufficient  one  is  about  the  only  one 
omitted.  One  may  believe  that  they  were  mistaken 
in  their  conviction — ^but  wherever  one  did  hold  it  it 
rendered  him  proof  against  all  assault.  For  what 
signified  a  few  days'  hunger,  or  a  few  hours  on  the 
cross,  or  a  few  moments  in  the  fangs  of  the  lions,  so 
long  as  endurance  meant  endless  existence,  and  sur- 
render meant  falling  back  into  a  few  years  longer  of 
life,  at  best,  with  annihilation  at  the  end  of  it  ?  Life 
is  not  at  any  time  so  well  worth  the  living,  that  one 
could  easily  be  frightened  back  into  it  when  he  had 
the  chance  to  exchange  it  for  one  which  he  believed 
to  be  far  better,  and  which  could  not  well  be  worse. 
The  scanty  allusions  to  the  movement  in  secular 


56  CHRISTIANITY 

history  make  it  plain  that  the  outside  world  looked 
upon  it  as  a  pitiful  delusion.  Alternately  they  ad- 
mired the  Christians'  fortitude,  and  were  incensed 
at  their  stubbornness.  Meanwhile  the  belief  spread, 
and  all  weapons  against  it  were  impotent.  But  it  was 
not  until  from  forty  to  sixty  years  after  Jesus'  dis- 
appearance that  any  rationale  of  this  new  life  for  men 
was  attempted.  Then,  first  of  all,  St.  Paul  under- 
takes the  task.  He  explains  however  in  terms  which 
are  most  difficult  to  construe.  Never  was  a  more 
exasperating  expounder  than  he.  He  passes  from 
scientific  precision  to  vivid  metaphor,  and  thence  to 
emotional  rhapsody,  and  round  again  through  the 
same  circle,  so  that  one  is  hard  put  to  it  to  follow. 
His  favorite  formulae  are  something  hke  these: — ^the 
Christian  "  is  in  Christ ",  or  Christ  "  is  in  him  " ;  or 
both  are  "  bound  up  together  in  his  dying  and  rising 
again  " ;  or  "  his  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God  " ;  and 
such  like.  Strictly  speaking,  it  is  not  a  rationale 
of  the  phenomena  at  all,  but  endless  ways  of  saying 
that  Christ,  by  his  steadfast  persistence  in  his 
"  way  ",  attained  to  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  and 
that  any  other  through  the  same  "  way  "  may  attain 
the  same  goal. 

It  is  quite  plain,  however,  that  the  matter  could 
not  remain  in  that  shape.  Human  nature  always 
craves  the  reason  of  things.  The  Church  was  now 
numerous  and  widespread,  but  it  was  almost  entirely 
of  people  who  knew  Jesus  only  at  second  hand.  The 
spell  of  his  immediate  presence  had  lifted.    Who,  and 


THE  CHRIST  OF  THE  GOSPELS         57 

what,  is  this  person  into  whose  hands  we  have  com- 
mitted our  existence?  It  is  patent  that  the  Gospels 
were  written  in  answer  to  this  demand.  To  see  the 
Christ  of  the  Gospels  it  is  not  needful  to  inquire 
minutely  into  their  date  or  authorship,  or  about  their 
accuracy  in  details.  These  are  questions  for  scholar- 
ship, and  are  in  their  place  important.  But  the 
main  thing  has  been  settled  long  ago.  Every  one 
admits  that  they  are  memorabilia,  collected  generally 
from  his  contemporaries  and  sympathetic  friends.  If 
their  portrait  of  him  does  not  show  up  his  features 
in  its  bold  outlines  we  might  better  lay  it  aside.  We 
may  also,  if  we  choose,  disregard  for  the  present  the 
stories  of  the  Infancy.  All  his  followers  made  his 
acquaintance  at  first  as  a  grown  man.  Their  opinion 
of  him  was  formed  before  they  thought  to  inquire  con- 
cerning his  birth  and  parentage. 

In  the  Synoptic  Gospels  we  have  the  story  as  it 
was  told  at  the  demand  of  a  people  who  already  ac- 
cepted and  lived  by  the  fact  of  the  Resurrection. 
Without  that  belief  it  would  not  have  been  written, 
and  without  that  belief  brought  to  it  it  would  have 
been  incredible  and  unintelligible.  All  four  Gospels 
really  begin  the  story  at  the  same  point.  They  date 
its  commencement  from  the  time  of  a  religious 
awakening  which  had  place  in  Palestine  in  the 
fifteenth  year  of  the  Emperor  Tiberius,  while  Pontius 
Pilate  was  Procurator  of  Judea,  Annas  and  Caiaphas 
being  High  Priests  at  Jerusalem.  The  stage  was  held 
at  first  by  the  stern  and  picturesque  prophet,  John 


58  CHRISTIANITY 

the  "  Baptizer  ".  Then  a  Jewish  carpenter  steps  to 
the  centre,  and  John  makes  his  exit.  The  biog- 
raphers thereafter  confine  themselves  to  his  move- 
ments. This  is  the  original  story,  and  in  Mark,  the 
oldest,  it  stands  thus.  But  in  each  of  the  other  Gos- 
pels to  the  drama  is  prefixed  a  diff*erent  prologue. 
By  Matthew  the  genealogy  of  the  central  character, 
from  Abraham  down,  is  hung  up  against  the  scenes, 
together  with  an  account  of  his  parentage  and  birth. 
By  Luke  a  diff'erent  genealogy  is  posted,  along  with 
a  different  story  of  the  Infancy.  John  prefixes  a 
divine  Prologue,  after  the  manner  of  the  Greek 
tragedies. 

When  we  study  it  the  problem  may  be  stated  thus : 
— What  did  Jesus  conceive  himself  to  be?  What  did 
he  conceive  himself  to  be  doing?  What  did  his  biog- 
raphers believe  him  to  be?  Let  us  take  this  last  in- 
quiry first.  It  is  plain  that  before  they  wrote  the 
first  word  they  held  him  to  be  a  man  in  some  way 
apart  from  common  humanity.  In  this  opinion  those 
for  whom  they  wrote  shared.  But  just  what  they  did 
hold  him  to  be  is  not  plain.  The  strong  impression 
given  is  that  they  did  not  know.  That  dogmatic 
certitude,  that  assumption  that  everything  can  be  ex- 
haustively stated,  is  absent  from  the  first  three  Gos- 
pels, and  is  only  present  in  the  Fourth,  which  is  not 
a  biography,  but  a  theological  treatise.  A  certain 
tender  hesitation,  a  reverent  doubtfulness,  if  one  may 
say  so,  marks  the  attitude  of  the  disciples.  That 
feeling  is  itself,  perhaps,  the  best  indication  of  what 


THE  CHRIST  OF  THE  GOSPELS        59 

they  thought  about  him.  Two  things  manifestly  im- 
pressed them  chiefly — the  marvellous  spiritual  il- 
lumination of  his  words,  and  the  marvellous  power 
he  exhibited  in  dealing  with  certain  natural  forces. 
The  first  of  these  is  but  illy  defined  as  "  sinlessness  ". 
Faultlessness  is  but  a  tame  and  negative  quality,  and 
they  make  but  little  of  it.  They  represent  him  as  not 
only  impeccably  good,  but  dynamically  good.  The 
wisdom  which  they  remembered  in  him  was  not  at  all 
the  wisdom  of  the  sage  or  the  philosopher,  but  that 
deeper  wisdom  to  which  the  heart  responds.  To  this 
end  they  preserve  his  fugitive  sayings,  his  more 
formal  sermons,  his  parables,  his  apothegms,  his  pro- 
found and  tender  talks  with  his  intimates,  his  answers 
to  inquirers,  his  retorts  to  challengers. 

They  recount  his  healing  sick  persons,  restoring 
sight  to  the  blind,  strengthening  the  impotent,  cleans- 
ing lepers,  and,  in  one  instance,  bringing  the  dead  to 
life.  The  surprising  thing  is  that  they  were  not  sur- 
prised. They  make  no  vaunt  of  these  marvels,  or  of 
him  for  their  sakes.  They  are  frank,  on  the  contrary, 
to  record  that  he  thought  of  these  powers  but  slightly, 
never  used  them  to  his  own  advantage,  used  them 
at  all  reluctantly,  and  always  held  them  subordinate 
to  his  main  purpose.  Nothing  could  be  presented 
more  unlike  the  vulgar  wonder-worker,  an  Abognotus 
or  a  Cagliostro.  To  them  he  was  plainly  not  a 
wonder-worker,  but  a  person  from  whom  on  other  ac- 
counts one  might  expect  marvels.  The  miracles  and 
mighty  works  do  not   interrupt  the  narrative,  nor 


60  CHRISTIANITY 

encumber  it.  Tliej  are  of  the  substance  of  it  and 
render  it  coherent.  To  the  biographers  he  was  at 
least  superhuman.  But  when  they  were  challenged, 
as  they  were  more  than  once,  to  speak  out  what  they 
thought  of  him,  they  hesitated.  Either  they  were  not 
certain,  or  they  had  no  terms  in  which  to  express 
it.  Most  of  them  were  content  to  say  that  he  was 
a  "  prophet  ". 

Now,  the  prophet  was  a  character  with  whose  idea 
they  were  at  home.  He  was  one  who,  in  addition  to 
his  qualities  as  a  man,  possessed  certain  other  en- 
dowments in  virtue  of  which  he  was  able,  within  lim- 
its, to  produce  phenomena  impossible  to  other  men. 
For  a  while  this  formula  seemed  to  be  sufficient  for 
the  case;  but  before  long  it  was  seen  to  be  so  mani- 
festly inadequate  that  it  was  abandoned.  A  few 
thought  of  him  as  "  that  Prophet  ",  i.e.,  the  legendary 
seer  and  wonder-worker  of  tradition  and  religious 
folk-lore.  But  this  notion  gained  little  acceptance. 
It  fitted  him  so  illy  that  it  could  not  cling.  There 
was,  indeed,  extant  a  character  which  would  describe 
him,  but  for  a  long  time  they  hesitated  to  use  it.  It 
was  that  of  the  Jewish  "  Messiah  ".  This  was  the 
title  of  a  personage  held  by  the  Jews  in  supremest 
reverence,  but  whose  nature  and  qualities  were  most 
vague  and  confused.  It  is  not  possible  to  this  day 
to  find  out  with  certainty  what  the  Jew  means  or 
meant  by  the  Messiah.  Rabbi  gainsays  Rabbi,  and 
historian  disagrees  with  historian.  One  thing  can  be 
said,  however,  about  every  presentation  of  the  char- 


THE  CHRIST  OF  THE  GOSPELS        61 

acter.  He  was  to  be  a  person  higher  than  man,  and 
lower  than  God.  He  possessed  some  of  the  attributes 
of  both  and  not  all  of  either,  and  had  immediate 
relations  with  both.  It  is  not  surprising  that  this 
title  was  fixed  upon  Jesus,  or  that  it  is  the  name  by 
which,  in  its  Greek  form,  the  Christ,  he  is  known 
to  this  day.  It  satisfied  better  than  any  other  term 
could  the  immediate  craving  for  a  definition.  For 
that  purpose  it  is  indeed  inadequate,  but  it  was  the 
best  and  truest  available.  Nor  is  damage  wrought 
by  its  use  save  when  ill-informed  piety  attempts  to 
shrink  the  Son  of  God  within  the  compass  of  an  old 
Jewish  conception.  This  is  the  highest  point  reached 
by  the  three  first  Gospels  in  their  interpretation  of 
Jesus.  He  was  a  "  prophet  "  ;  or  he  was  "  Elijah  " ; 
or  he  was  the  "  Messiah  " ;  and  beyond  this  they  do 
not  go. 

We  now  ask.  What  did  Jesus  think  himself  to  be? 
and  to  be  doing?  No  one  reading  the  Gospels  can 
miss  seeing  that  he  regarded  himself  as  one  who  had 
a  definite  and  distinct  purpose  to  accomplish.  There 
is  no  feeling  about  or  waiting  upon  circumstances. 
Whatever  his  task  was,  it  is  evident  that  he  believed 
that  if  he  did  not  accomplish  it  it  would  never  be 
done. 

There  are  two  paths  generally  open  to  the  great 
and  sympathetic  soul  touched  by  the  world's  wrongs. 
One  is  to  teach  righteousness,  the  other  is  to 
organize  righteousness ;  to  be  either  a  preacher  or 
a  reformer.     Jesus  chose  neither.    He  added  little  or 


62  CHRISTIANITY 

nothing  to  the  world's  stock  of  theoretical  morality. 
Probably  all  liis  noblest  sayings  may  be  matched  from 
Socrates  or  Moses,  from  Seneca  or  Gautama.  The 
great  company  of  preachers  has  served  the  world  well, 
but  Jesus  is  not  among  them.  No  more  did  he  con- 
ceive his  task  to  be  to  reform  society.  God  knows, 
the  social,  political,  and  economic  order  among  which 
he  lived  was  rotten  enough.  It  was  a  drunken,  lust- 
ful, cruel,  and  unjust  world.  The  field  for  a  reformer 
vv'as  ripe  to  the  harvest.  There  were  laborers  ready, 
— not  many,  but  very  willing.  A  crusade  might  have 
been  organized  against  the  palpable  wrongs,  evils,  and 
oppressions  of  hfe.  Had  he  put  himself  at  the  head 
of  it,  with  his  unparalleled  powers,  inspired  it  with 
his  indomitable  courage,  inflamed  it  with  his  divine 
enthusiasm,  one  might  suppose  it  would  have  swept 
east  and  west  from  Galilee  and  cleansed  the  world. 
Indeed  the  thought  did  come  to  him,  and  tempted  him 
mightily.  All  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth  lay  open  to 
him,  but  he  deliberately  turned  away  from  that  path. 
If,  then,  his  metier  was  neither  to  teach  men  good- 
ness nor  to  change  their  environment,  what  was  \i? 

Two  words  dominate  all  his  speech, — "  life  "  and 
"  death  ".  With  these  two  phenomena,  which  are 
really  one,  he  concerned  himself  entirely.  His  prob- 
lem was.  What  can  be  done  with  the  individual  exist- 
ence.? Can  it  be  happily  extended  beyond  the  term 
which  we  call  "  natural  ".?  If  so,  how.?'  The  eternal 
absurdity  is  that  men  die.  The  higher  the  individual 
rises  in  the  scale  of  being  the  more  he  revolts  from 


THE  CHRIST  OF  THE  GOSPELS        63 

the  necessity.  It  puzzles  his  understanding ;  it  stulti- 
fies his  consciousness.  What  he  really  shrinks  from 
is  not  the  act  of  dying  nor  the  fear  of  anytliing  be- 
yond, but  the  instinctive  horror  of  being  dead, — 

"That  sense  of  ruin  which  is  worse  than  pain. 
That  masterful  negation  and  collapse 
Of  all  that  makes  me  man;  as  though  I  bent 
Over  the  dizzy  brink 
Of  some  sheer,  infinite  descent. 
Or  worse,  as  though 

Down,  down,  forever  I  was  falling  through 
The  solid  framework  of  created  things. 
And  needs  must  sink 
Into  the  vast  abyss  ". 

This  inescapable  horror  is  the  unique  experience 
of  man.  He  can  disguise  it,  accept  it,  jest  at  it,  ig- 
nore it,  damn  it,  according  to  his  mood,  but  it  is,  after 
all,  the  determining  force  in  his  action.  It  increases 
just  in  proportion  as  his  nature  climbs  and  expands. 
The  brute  knows  it  not.  The  brute-like  man  is 
touched  by  it  little  if  at  all.  But  in  measure  as  the 
individual  consciousness  deepens  and  expands  and  en- 
tangles itself  with  ever  extending  relationships,  it  is 
the  more  oppressed  by  this  brutal  surd. 

To  this  primal  instinct  of  being  Jesus  addresses 
himself.  Whatever  he  accomplished  he  effected  here. 
His  problem  and  his  task  were  biological.  But  he 
takes  it  up  at  the  point  where  the  human  biologist 
lays  it  down.  Is  the  individual  life  composed  of 
such  stuff,  or  does  it  contain  within  it  such  qualities. 


64  CHRISTIANITY 

or  can  it  be  moulded  to  such  potencies  that  it  can 
win  through  the  barrier  called  Death?  This  is  the 
question  he  asked;  and  the  answer  is  Cliristianity ; 
and  nothing  else  is. 

At  this  point  a  strenuous  and  sustained  effort  is 
necessary  to  empty  our  thought  of  some  persistent 
misconceptions.  It  is  indeed  most  difficult  for  us 
at  this  day  to  attach  the  same  meaning  which  he  did 
to  the  words  which  he  used.  In  religious  phraseology 
the  antithesis  "  living  and  dying  ",  "  surviving  and 
perishing  ",  "  salvation  and  destruction  ",  have  been 
for  so  long  time  used  in  secondary  and  metaphorical 
senses  that  it  is  hard  to  realize  that  in  his  mouth  they 
had  their  plain  and  literal  significance.  His  theme 
was  not  the  happiness  of  two  contrasted  kinds  of 
future  existence,  but  existence  itself.  Can  a  man  in 
any  wise  overcome  death,  and  if  so,  how.^^  Of  course 
such  an  inquiry  must  lead  at  times  to  a  point  where 
the  quality  of  the  new  existence  comes  into  considera- 
tion, but  this  never  engages  his  attention  long,  and  is 
always  subordinate  to  the  main  theme. 

He  pronounces  at  the  outset  that  the  thing  is  pos- 
sible, but  difficult.  He  introduces  it  under  the  cate- 
gory of  a  "  Kingdom  ".  But  the  moment  that  word 
is  pronounced  we  have  to  be  on  our  guard  lest  we 
miss  its  meaning.  He  uses  the  term  in  its  biological 
and  not  its  political  sense.  In  other  connections  we 
are  familiar  with  that  use.  We  speak  of  the  mineral 
Kingdom,  the  animal  Kingdom,  the  vegetable  King- 
dom.    In  no  other  sense  does  he  use  the  word  for 


THE  CHRIST  OF  THE  GOSPELS         65 

the  new  Kingdom,  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven.  It  is  a 
biological  classification.  Had  naturalists  and  men  of 
science  formulated  Christian  theology,  instead  of 
metaphysicians  and  jurists,  the  world  would  have 
been  spared  an  incalculable  confusion.  For  it  is  the 
naturalist's  legitimate  field.  But  ages  ago  the  truth 
of  Christ  was  interpreted  in  terms  of  law  instead 
of  biology.  The  result  has  been  that  the  very  words 
of  the  Master  have  had  fixed  upon  them  an  unnatural 
meaning  from  which  it  will  be  long  before  they  re- 
cover. His  language,  however,  is  more  intelligible 
than  it  has  been  at  any  time  in  the  past.  In  the 
great  cycle  of  human  thought  the  physical  sciences 
have  brought  into  common  use  the  mental  forms  into 
which  his  words  fit. 

"  Except  ye  be  born  again  ye  cannot  enter  into 
the  Kingdom  ".  This  is  the  heart  of  Jesus'  message. 
But  this  "  being  reborn "  is,  to  his  view,  not  a 
metaphor  but  a  scientific  statement.  Birth  is  a 
strange  thing;  it  is  an  epoch  in  the  progress  of  an 
individual  life.  It  is  not  the  commencement  of  it. 
The  subject  of  it  has  reached  the  end  of  a  stage  of 
development  before  he  can  be  born.  The  higher  in 
the  scale  of  being,  the  longer  and  more  complete  is 
this  preliminary  stage.  Birth  is  only  the  entrance 
upon  a  new  phase  of  being.  Jesus  does  not  present 
the  new  birth  as  the  beginning  of  the  soul,  but  as 
a  radical  change  in  its  relationships.  It  cannot  be 
born  again  until  it  has  been  born  once.  Nor  does 
either  the  first   or  the   second  birth  guarantee  the 


66  CHRISTIANITY 

continuance  in  life  of  the  thing  born;  it  only  gives 
it  opportunity.  His  dictum  is  that  there  is  a  Way 
whereby  the  natural  life  of  an  individual  creature  can 
be  so  modified  as  to  become  endowed  with  immortal 
quality.  The  new  creatures  thus  produced — their 
origin,  their  laws,  their  phenomena,  their  fortunes, 
he  includes  in  a  new  Kingdom.  He  points  out  that, 
as  might  be  expected,  the  entrance  into  this  new 
kingdom  differs  in  essential  features  from  that  into 
the  kingdom  next  below.  It  is  difficult  to  achieve, 
cannot  be  achieved  at  all  without  strenuous  effort. 
In  this  Kingdom  the  pangs  of  parturition  are  borne 
by  the  child  for  himself.  The  gate  is  strait  and  the 
path  narrow  that  leadeth  into  life,  and  relatively  few 
find  it.  He  asserts  that  the  purpose  of  his  presence 
has  to  do  with  this  process, — that  men  might  have 
life,  life  more  abounding  and  persistent  than  they 
now  possess. 

It  is  a  threadbare  dictum  of  the  great  Synthetic 
Philosopher  that  life  is  conditioned  upon  adaptation 
to  environment.  Eternal  life  is  conditioned  upon 
the  discovery  of  the  environing  God.  This  is  the 
open  secret  of  Jesus.  The  individual  is  mortal;  but 
he  may  reach  to  immortality  for  himself,  and  pre- 
sumably for  his  offspring,  if  he  follow  the  law  for 
that  case  made  and  provided.  This  process  he  calls 
the  Way  of  Life.  To  exhibit  the  truth  of  all  this 
would  be  to  quote  substantially  the  larger  part  of 
the  New  Testament.  It  all  revolves  about  the  new 
life  of  the  individual  man.     It  widens  out  into  the 


THE  CHRIST  OF  THE  GOSPELS        67 

thought  of  a  society  composed  of  such  twice-born 
souls.  It  contemplates  the  action  and  interaction  be- 
tween such  a  society  and  the  natural  world.  It 
anticipates  the  ultimate  dominion  of  such  a  type  of 
man.  It  is  the  Novum  Organon  for  the  Human  Race. 
All  his  sayings,  arguments,  metaphors,  parables, 
aphorisms,  are  dominated  by  this  controlling  princi- 
ple. His  imagery  is  drawn  almost  exclusively  from 
the  processes  and  phenomena  of  life.  "  God  so  loved 
the  world  that  whosoever  believeth  on  him  should  not 
perish  but  have  aeonian  life  ".  "  That  which  is  bom 
of  the  flesh  is  flesh,  but  that  which  is  bom  of  the 
spirit  is  spirit  ".  "  Except  a  man  be  born  again 
he  cannot  see  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  ".  "  He  that 
hearkeneth  unto  me  and  hath  confidence  in  him  that 
sent  me  hath  aeonian  life  in  himself,  and  moves  not 
to  destruction,  but  hath  passed  from  death  into 
living  ". 

The  world  was  never  so  ready  to  comprehend  Christ 
as  it  is  to-day.  One  might  say  reverently  that  Jesus 
was  the  first  Evolutionist.  The  question  before  us 
is  not  a  "  theological  "  one  at  all.  It  is  the  matter 
of  the  origin  and  phenomena  of  the  highest  life 
extant.  It  differs  from  the  naturalist's  ordinary 
problem  in  that  the  study  of  this  form  leads  the 
student  toward  the  future  and  not  back  toward  the 
past.  It  is  the  stage  of  evolutionary  progress  at 
which  the  highest  extant  being  now  is.  From  the 
primordial  slime  life  is  built  upward,  each  form  being 
the  scaffolding  to  support  a  farther  advance,  until 


68  CHRISTIANITY 

is  reached  the  final  product  which  we  call  Man.  Evo- 
lution at  every  stage  requires  fit  material  upon  which 
to  work.  Jesus  finds  the  material  for  the  New  Man 
in  the  nature  of  the  one  which  now  is.  His  estimate 
of  the  quality  of  human  nature  is  shown  by  the  use 
to  which  he  puts  it.  He  conceives  of  it,  not  as 
"  fallen  ",  but  as  undeveloped.  He  called  himself  the 
Son  of  Man  because  he  wished  no  mistake  to  be  made 
in  the  mMter.  If  his  Way  should  prove  successful 
for  himself  and  reach  its  goal,  it  would  be  made 
plain  that  the  path  would  be  open  to  any  man  who 
would  follow  him.  Later  on  we  will  have  to  face 
the  question  as  to  how  the  individual  being  of  this 
new  Order  is  produced.  But  before  doing  so  we  must 
look  farther  at  the  personality  whom  St.  Paul  calls 
"  the  Second  Man,  the  Lord  from  Heaven  ". 


THE  PRIMITIVE  CHRIST 


"  Conjecture  of  the  worker  by  the  work; 
Is  there  strength  there?     Enough;  Intelligence? 
Ample;  but  goodness  in  a  like  degree? 

Not  to  the  human  eye  in  the  present  state. 
An  isoscele  deficient  in  the  base. 
What  lacks  then  of  perfection  fit  for  God 
But  just  the  instance  which  this  tale  supplies 
Of  love  without  a  limit?     So  is  strength, 
So  is  intelligence;  let  love  be  so. 
Unlimited  in  its  self-sacrifice, 
Then  is  the  tale  true,  and  God  shows  complete. 

Beyond  the  tale  I  reach  into  the  dark, 
Feel  what  I  cannot  see,  and  still  faith  stands  ". 
Browning,  "  The  Ring  and  the  Book  ", 


IV 
THE  PRIMITIVE  CHRIST 

There  is  something  strangely  repellent  in  the  con- 
ventional formularies  which  express  the  Christian 
doctrine  of  the  Divinity  of  Christ.  The  so-called 
Athanasian  Creed  may  well  be  taken  for  an  example. 
It  is  true  that  it  has  never  been  officially  accepted  by 
the  Church,  but  it  may  be  said  that  it  is  the  habit  of 
orthodoxy  to  esteem  it  the  most  complete  statement 
of  the  doctrine  extant.  If  the  Christian  multitude 
balk  at  it  it  is  on  account  of  the  hardness  of  their 
hearts. 

"  For  the  right  faith  is  that  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son 

of  God,  is  God  and  man; 
God,  of  the  substance  of  the  Father,  begotten  before  all  worlds; 

and  Man,  of  the  substance  of  his  Mother,  born  in  the  world; 
Perfect    God,    and    perfect    Man;    of   a    reasonable    soul    and 

human  flesh  subsisting;  equal  to  his  Father  as  touching  his 

Godhead ; 
And  inferior  to  his  Father  as  touching  his  Manhood. 
Who,   although  he  be   God  and  Man,  yet  he   is   not  two  but 

one  Christ; 
One,   not   by   conversion    of   the   Godhead   into    flesh;    but   by 

taking  the  Manhood  into  God; 
One  altogether;  not  by  confusion  of  substance;  but  by  unity 

of  person; 
For  as  the  reasonable  soul  and  flesh  is  one  man;  so  God  and 

Man  is  one  Christ,"  &c.,  &c. 

71 


72  CHRISTIANITY 

The  secret  of  this  repulsion  is  not  hard  to  discover. 
It  is  not  because  the  propositions  are  not  true.  They 
may  be  true  enough,  if  they  have  any  meaning.  But 
lying  behind  them  one  feels  a  temper  from  wliich  he 
will  turn  away  if  he  can.  If  he  has  just  been  reading 
the  Gospels,  and  comes  from  under  their  gracious 
spell  to  confront  this  simulacrum,  he  feels  as  one 
would  to  find  himself  unexpectedly  in  a  room  where 
a  company  of  surgeons  were  dissecting  the  body  of 
his  brother.  It  deals  with  a  dead  Christ.  The  spirit 
which  finds  satisfaction  in  such  work  is  akin  to  that 
which  would  "  peep  and  botanize  upon  a  mother's 
grave  ".  It  is  as  though  the  lover  should  make  an 
inventory  of  his  mistress'  charms,  as  though  one  in- 
scribed a  Bertillon  description  for  an  epitaph  on 
a  brother's  grave.  It  offends  by  its  sheer  cold-blood- 
edness. Nor  is  that  all.  One's  intelligence  shares 
in  the  offence  to  his  reverence.  For  the  terms  of  the 
formulary  are  really  not  presentable  to  the  under- 
standing. The  mind  which  attempts  to  grasp  them 
is  eluded  and  irritated.  One  moment  it  sees  and  the 
next  moment  it  does  not  see.  Opposed  and  incom- 
patible concepts  are  presented  alternately  and  sim- 
ultaneously, until  thought,  beaten  back  and  forth  like 
a  shuttlecock,  drops  exhausted.  The  soul  is  offered 
an  analysis  when  it  wants  a  synthesis,  a  metaphysical 
formula  when  it  wants  a  living  Person.  The  Chris  to- 
logical  literature  of  the  Church  is  of  vast  extent,  and 
ranges  from  the  most  exalted  speculation  to  the  veri- 
est trifling.    But  one  rises  from  its  study  with  a  sense 


THE  PRIMITIVE  CHRIST  7S 

of  depression.  He  has  been  seeking  the  living  among 
the  dead;  he  is  not  there. 

The  purpose  of  this  writing  is  sometliing  altogether 
different.  I  would,  if  possible,  take  the  reasonable 
man  by  the  hand,  and  lead  him  into  the  Presence. 
If  he  find  there  mystery,  and  reality  passing  under- 
standing, it  is  only  needful  for  him  to  recognize  in 
it  the  same  kind  of  mystery  which  he  must  always 
confront  when  he  explores  the  arcana  of  Nature,  or 
strives  to  know  God.  Men  have  no  quarrel  with 
mystery  as  such.  The  naturalist  and  the  psycholo- 
gist, as  well  as  the  man  of  affairs  and  the  woman 
who  loves,  have  learned  long  ago  that  every  advancing 
step  of  knowledge  or  experience  brings  them  into 
the  presence  of  ever-widening  mystery.  But  what 
they  demand  is  to  know  that  the  mysterious  things 
are  real  things,  and  not  figments. 

We  have  seen  that  one  moiety  of  Jesus'  work  was 
to  exhibit  the  capacity  of  the  nature  of  man.  To 
this  end  he  was  born,  passed  through  the  whole  orbit 
of  movement  of  a  man,  from  the  womb,  through 
growth,  through  temptation,  through  death,  through 
hell,  into  the  new  humanity.  The  other  half  of  his 
task  was  to  exhibit  God.  But  according  to  him,  the 
two  processes  coalesced  and  became  one.  Whoever 
sees  man  in  his  completeness  finds  in  him  something 
divine;  whoever  sees  God  finds  in  him  something  hu- 
mane. This  rapprochement  of  God  and  man  is  the 
note  of  Christianity.  Unless  we  assume  that  human 
nature  and  divine  nature  possess  a  quality  in  com- 


74  CHRISTIANITY 

mon,  it  is  useless  to  enter  the  field  of  religion  at  all. 
For  only  beings  of  the  same  kind  can  hold  intercourse. 
A  man  can  have  no  commerce  with  a  stone;  a  fish 
cannot  speak  with  a  bird;  only  a  god  can  hold  con- 
verse with  God.  The  Gospels  assume  this  with  a 
strange  simplicity.  The  genealogy  in  Luke  places 
Adam  in  the  direct  Hne  of  descent  between  God  and 
Jesus ;  "  Jesus,  which  was  the  son  of  .  .  .  David, 
which  was  the  son  of  .  .  .  Abraham,  which  was 
the  son  of  .  .  .  Noah,  which  was  the  son  of  .  .  . 
Adam,  which  was  the  son  of  God  ".  The  stirps  is  the 
same  throughout. 

•Christ  regards  men,  not  as  manikins  created  by 
divine  fiat,  but  as  the  fruit  of  God's  loins.  The  Fa- 
ther's love  for  them  is  inescapable  by  himself.  His 
own  contentment  and  completeness  are  bound  up  with 
them.  There  is  current  a  strange  reluctance  to  think 
or  speak  of  God  as  enduring  pain.  He  is  thought 
to  be  fitly  conceived  only  as  serene,  impassable,  un- 
perturbed in  his  self-centred  felicity.  But  the  God 
of  Jesus  is  one  who  has  borne  the  cross  in  his  heart 
since  before  the  world  was.  Pain  is  the  eternal  con- 
comitant of  loving.  Whosoever  loves  places  himself 
within  the  power  of  the  object  of  his  love.  His 
happiness  is  no  longer  in  his  own  keeping.  ,  If  the 
loved  one  suffer,  he  suffers ;  if  the  love  be  unrequited 
it  becomes  his  torment.  Its  purest  possible  form 
is  that  of  a  parent  for  a  child.  The  higher  the  nature 
of  the  parent,  the  more  inextinguishable  the  love. 
If  the  parent  be  absolutely  good,  as  God,  the  love 


THE  PRIMITIVE  CHRIST  75 

will  be  deathless.  No  wa3rv^ardness  of  the  child,  no 
deformity,  no  folly,  no  crime  can  beat  it  off.  The 
suggestion  that  the  Parent  would  slay  the  child  in 
order  to  regain  his  own  peace  or  to  safeguard  his 
own  justice,  is  one  so  wildly  irrational  that  one  can 
only  stand  amazed  when  he  confronts  it  in  theological 
guise.  Suppose  the  All-Father,  by  one  sentence  of 
doom,  to  condemn  and  execute  all  his  rebellious  chil- 
dren, what  then?  Has  God  no  memory .?  Is  the 
blessed  power  to  forget  one  of  his  attributes?  And 
is  love  not  made  of  the  same  stuff  in  all  spheres  of 
being?  The  eternal  Father  may  not  execute  his 
children,  nor  can  he  un-get  them.  There  remains 
therefore  only  to  win  their  affection  and  bring  them 
home.  But  love  has  no  power  to  compel.  It  can 
only  open  its  arms,  entreat,  solicit,  and  wait. 

Jesus  defines  himself  as  at  once  the  Son  of  Man 
and  the  Son  of  God.  That  is,  the  Ideal  Man  recog- 
nizes both  his  parents.  He  opens  his  arms  to  both. 
How  did  he  conceive  himself  to  be  related  to  his 
Father?  In  the  first  place,  he  boldly  claimed  the 
family  likeness.  "  He  that  seeth  me  seeth  him  that 
sent  me  ".  "  He  that  seeth  me  seeth  the  Father  ". 
He  claimed  to  have  a  direct  and  immediate  commis- 
sion to  do  certain  things.  "  I  know  him,  for  I  am 
from  him,  and  he  hath  sent  me ;  the  Father  hath  not 
left  me  alone;  for  I  do  always  the  things  which 
please  him.  I  came  forth  from  the  Father,  and  am 
come  into  the  world ;  again  I  leave  the  world  and  go 
to  the  Father  ".     Many  a  man  has  been  "  conscious 


76  CHRISTIANITY 

of  a  mission  "  in  the  world,  but  no  enthusiast  uses 
language  like  this.  It  is  but  the  simple  truth  that  his 
speech  does  not  give  in  any  way  the  impression  of 
an  enthusiast.  There  is  a  certain  serene  sanity  about 
him  which  is  not  easy  to  define,  but  which  is  irre- 
sistible. 

Now,  if  it  be  true  that  he  held  a  special  commis- 
sion from  God  to  do  a  specific  thing,  when  did  he 
receive  it,  and  where,  and  how?  He  himself  does  not 
say.  He  contents  himself  with  asserting  the  fact. 
He  says  that  he  "  came  down  from  heaven  " ;  that  he 
is  "  doing  the  work  which  his  Father  gave  him  to 
finish  " ;  that  he  "  seeks  not  his  own  will,  but  the  will 
of  him  that  sent  him  ".  He  claims  to  have  a  dele- 
gated power  on  earth  to  forgive  sins.  Once  in  a 
cryptic  utterance  he  seems  to  assert  for  himself  a 
pre-existence,  "  before  Abraham  was  I  am  ".  This 
is  as  far  as  we  can  go,  depending  upon  his  authentic 
statements  concerning  himself.  He  believed  himself 
to  have  a  peculiar  commission  from  God;  he  knew 
his  Father's  will  beyond  the  possibility  of  mistake ;  he 
came  out  from  the  Father;  he  expected  to  return  to 
the  Father;  and  he  acted  as  no  mere  man  has  either 
the  power  or  the  right  to  act. 

We  may  acknowledge  that  this  seems  a  meagre 
way  for  a  divine  personality  to  show  himself  withal. 
"  If  thou  be  the  Christ,  why  not  tell  us  plainly  "  ?  It 
would  seem  to  have  been  so  easy  for  him  to  exhibit 
himself  in  some  less  questionable  shape.  But  this 
objection   cannot   stand  against   a  very  little  sober 


THE  PRIMITIVE  CHRIST  77 

reflection.  Why  does  not  God  always  show  himself? 
Why  does  he  leave  men  to  grope,  and  hesitate,  and 
speculate,  lost  in  the  mazes  of  the  universe?  The 
answer  is  plain.  Revelation  is  but  the  obverse  of 
discovery.  No  truth  is  ever  revealed  to  an  intelli- 
gence except  as  it  is  discovered.  The  function  of  any 
reality  is  only  to  he;  it  is  the  task  of  intelligence  to 
see  it.  In  the  nature  of  things  God,  at  any  time  or 
place,  can  only  be  found  of  them  that  seek. 

"Oh!  where  is  the  sea,"  the  fishes  cried. 
As  they  swam  the  crystal  clearness  through: 

"We've  heard  of  old  of  the  ocean's  tide. 
And  we  long  to  look  on  the  waters  blue. 
The  wise  ones  speak  of  an  infinite  sea; 

0  who  can  tell  us  if  such  there  be?" 

The  lark  flew  up  in  the  morning  bright. 
And  sung  and  balanced  on  sunny  wings; 
And  this  was  its  song;  "  I  see  the  light; 

1  look  on  a  world  of  beautiful  things. 
But  flying  and  singing  everywhere, 

In  vain  have  I  searched  to  find  the  air". 

The  task  of  the  disciples  was  to  see  divinity,  being 
in  its  presence.  Did  they  see?  And  what  did  they 
aee?  The  most  exalted  term  used  by  any  of  them 
during  Jesus'  lifetime  was,  "  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the 
Son  of  the  living  God  ".  This  definition,  if  it  be  a 
definition,  he  expressly  approved.  Now,  what  did 
they  mean  by  it?  I  do  not  ask  what  the  words  con- 
note when  we  use  them,  but  what  did  Peter  at 
Caeserea  mean  by  them?     The  reply  is,  He  did  not 


78  CHRISTIANITY 

know  clearly  what  he  meant.  It  is  the  language  of 
emotion,  reverence,  adoration.  In  that  mood  the 
mind  does  not  attempt  to  define.  The  term  used 
served  well  enough  to  express  a  feeling.  And  after 
all,  the  fact  that  Christ  was  able  to  arouse  that 
feeling  is  a  better  proof  of  his  divine  quality  than 
it  would  be  to  extract  from  his  followers  the  most 
scientific  definition. 

The  terms  used,  "  Christ  ",  and  "  the  Son  of  God  ", 
were  common  in  Jewish  speech.  But  they  were  not 
used  with  any  scientific  precision.  They  were  simply 
titles  for  an  exalted  personage.  In  a  way,  "  Mes- 
siah "  was  to  Jews  very  much  the  same  thing  that 
"  Christ "  is  to  the  unthinking  multitude  among 
Christians,  a  high  and  divine  personage,  somewhere 
between  God  and  man. 

At  that  stage  the  Christian  conception  of  Jesus 
stood  for  thirty  years  after  his  disappearance.  His 
first  ambassadors  had  no  defined  Christology.  They 
were  immediately  concerned  with  his  resurrection  and 
its  practical  consequences.  As  to  the  Person  who  had 
risen,  they  presented  him  under  a  variety  of  terms, 
with  the  idea  that  he  was  a  divinely  exalted  person, 
but  they  did  not  identify  him  with  God.  Six  weeks 
after  the  resurrection,  Peter,  as  the  delegate  of  the 
apostolic  band,  for  the  first  time  preached  Christ  to 
the  crowd.  He  introduces  him  as  "  a  man  approved 
of  God  unto  you  by  mighty  works  and  wonders  which 
God  did  by  him  " ;  as  "  the  Holy  One  " ;  as  "  the 
Messiah  ".    A  little  later,  in  his  next  address,  he  calls 


THE  PRIMITIVE  CHRIST  79 

him  "  the  Righteous  One  " ;  the  "  Prince  of  Life  " ; 
the  "  Servant  Jesus  whom  God  anointed " ;  a 
"  Prince  and  Saviour  ".  Stephen  used  words  of  like 
import.  Paul  in  his  speech  at  Athens,  spoke  only  of 
"  Jesus  and  the  Resurrection ".  It  is  noteworthy 
also  that  in  the  same  address,  when  he  was  arguing 
with  the  Greeks  about  the  real  God  as  contrasted 
with  their  idols,  he  makes  no  mention  of  Christ  at 
all.  At  this  point  they  stood  for  many  years.  The 
fact  was,  they  felt  no  need  for  any  more  precise  defini- 
tion of  the  Christ.  He  possessed  their  worship  wholly, 
and  they  were  under  a  driving  enthusiasm.  More- 
over, Christianity  was  at  the  first  deemed  both  by 
its  friends  and  enemies  to  be  a  movement  within 
Judaism.  The  Christians  were  still  Jews,  and  they 
had  no  thought  of  becoming  anything  else.  Their 
aim  was  "  to  redeem  Israel  ".  They  did  not  realize 
at  all  that  Christ's  relations  were  with  the  universal 
world.  For  the  purpose  in  hand,  the  terms  in  which 
they  presented  him  were  quite  sufficient. 

But  when  Christianity  was  driven  to  see  that  Juda- 
ism was  too  narrow  for  it,  and  was  led  to  confront 
the  pagan  world,  the  necessity  for  some  more  coherent 
and  portable  conception  of  Christ  became  evident. 
So  long  as  they  preached  the  "  Messiah  "  to  Jews 
they  did  not  need  to  define  the  term ;  but  when  they 
undertook  to  preach  Christ  to  pagans,  the  first  ques- 
tion which  they  must  hear  and  answer  was,  "  What 
is  this  Christ  "  ?  At  this  point  we  meet  St.  Paul.  We 
may  say  that  we  owe  to  him  the  Christ  of  Christen- 


80  CHRISTIANITY 

dom.  His  first  step  was  to  disentangle  Christ  from 
the  Jewish  Messiah.  That  conception,  as  we  have 
seen,  was  both  too  narrow  and  too  incoherent  to  fit 
it.  He  makes  httle  of  the  actual  life  of  Jesus,  in 
fact  seldom  refers  to  it  at  all.  Indeed  it  may  well 
be  doubted  whether  he  was  familiar  with  anything 
more  than  its  chief  incidents.  Of  all  writers  who 
have  influenced  the  world's  thought  and  life,  Paul  is 
perhaps  the  most  difficult  to  construe.  He  mingles 
dialectics,  poetry,  exhortation,  and  rhapsody,  as  only 
untrained  genius  could  do.  He  nowhere  sets  out  in 
formal  propositions  his  conception  of  Christ.  But 
it  is  not  difficult  to  gather  from  his  undisputed  Epis- 
tles his  main  idea.  He  refers  not  at  all  to  the  teach- 
ings or  acts  of  Jesus.  The  only  saying  of  his  which 
he  quotes  at  all  is  one  which  is  not  recorded  in  any 
of  the  Gospels.  He  concerns  himself  exclusively  with 
the  resurrection,  and  with  the  death,  which  he  re- 
gards as  practically  a  part  of  the  same  event.  The 
Christ  of  Paul  is  a  being  of  a  quite  different  kind 
from  the  Jesus  of  the  Gospels.  It  is  a  transcendent 
being  whose  orbit  only  intersects  that  of  the  historic 
personage  at  the  point  of  his  death.  He  depicts 
Christ  as  "  the  image  and  likeness  of  God  " ;  as  one 
in  whom  is  reflected  "  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of 
the  glory  of  God  " ;  the  "  Man  from  Heaven  " ;  the 
"  Life-giving  Spirit  " ;  the  ''  one  without  sin  " ;  the 
"  One  sent  from  God  " ;  but  he  always  stops  short  of 
identifying  him  with  God  himself.  Indeed  in  one 
crucial  passage  he  shows  that  he  conceives  him  to  be 


THE  PRIMITIVE  CHRIST  81 

still,  in  the  scale  of  being,  separate  from  and  sub- 
ordinate to  God : — "  I  would  have  you  to  know  that 
as  the  head  of  the  woman  is  the  man ;  the  head  of 
every  man  is  Christ ;  and  the  head  of  Christ  is  God  ". 
In  substance,  he  took  the  Hebrew-Christian  "  Mes- 
siah ",  broke  it  up,  set  free  the  Christ  which  they 
had  concluded  in  it,  and  set  him  in  the  place  of  su- 
preme honor,  over  all  things  in  the  universe,  but 
beneath  God. 

Thus  far  we  have  taken  account  only  of  those 
religious  ideas  and  things  which  had  place  within 
the  narrow  circle  of  Judaism.  But  that  complex 
thing  which  we  call  Christianity  has  drawn  and  woven 
into  its  fabric  material  from  very  many  and  very 
different  sources.  "  The  world  ",  says  Dill,  "  was 
in  the  throes  of  a  religious  revolution,  and  eagerly 
in  quest  of  some  fresh  vision  of  the  Divine,  from 
whatever  quarter  it  might  come  ".  From  the  Stoics 
had  already  spread  the  brotherhood  and  equality  of 
men,  an  active  pity  for  the  miserable  and  succor  for 
the  helpless,  the  notion  of  moral  equality  of  the 
sexes,  and  a  gentler  consideration  for  the  slave. 
From  the  religions  of  Egypt  and  the  East  had  come 
the  idea  of  sacramental  grace,  and  crude  adumbra- 
tions of  immortality.  The  cults  of  Mithra,  Isis,  and 
the  Great  Mother  had  made  familiar  the  ideas  of 
baptismal  regeneration,  the  blood  bath  for  the  mys- 
tical washing  away  of  sins,  the  mystic  meal  of  bread 
and  consecrated  wine,  the  recovery  of  the  Great 
Mother   from  the  dead   at   the   time   of  the  spring 


82  CHRISTIANITY 

equinox,  and  the  great  Festival  of  the  sacred  year 
on  the  25th  of  December.  Pagan  theology  had  al- 
ready elaborated  a  celestial  hierarchy,  in  which  the 
Deity,  while  in  essence  remote  and  inaccessible,  was 
linked  to  humanity  by  a  graduated  scale  of  inferior 
spiritual  beings,  the  equivalent  of  angels,  archangels, 
thrones,  dominions,  and  powers.  Philo  and  the 
Alexandrians  had  developed  the  Platonic  idea  of  the 
"  Logos  ", — the  Word.  All  these  forms  of  thought, 
empty  of  any  real  spiritual  contents,  lay  ready  at 
hand  for  the  new  Religion,  empty  bottles  to  be  filled 
with  the  new  wine. 

The  author  of  the  Fourth  Gospel,  whoever  he  was, 
and  whenever  he  wrote,  took  the  incomplete  Christol- 
ogy  of  Paul,  together  with  the  highest  there  was  in 
paganism,  and  carried  them  both  up  boldly  above 
Judaism  and  heathen  Philosophy,  into  cosmology. 
The  writer  had  before  him  the  facts  of  the  Gospels, 
and  the  interpretation  of  Paul.  He  takes  the  facts 
and  lifts  them  into  the  category  of  the  divine.  At 
the  very  beginning  of  his  Gospel  he  applies  a  new 
term  to  Christ,  the  term  which  the  world's  highest 
thought  had  prepared  for  this  use.  "  In  the  begin- 
ning was  the  '  Word  ',  and  the  Word  was  with  God, 
and  the  Word  was  God  ".  The  term  Logos,  which 
in  the  New  Testament  is  rendered  "  Word  ",  is  one 
which  cannot  be  expressed  in  English  except  by  a 
difficult  and  clumsy  circumlocution.  It  is  enough 
to  say  that  the  purpose  of  the  writer  was,  by  means 
of  it,  to  identify  Christ  with  the  essence  of  God. 


THE  PRIMITIVE  CHRIST  83 

The  later  conception  of  two  or  more  persons  in  the 
Godhead,  and  the  essential  relations  of  these  per- 
sons to  one  another,  does  not  seem  to  have  been  in 
his  mind.  He  saw  in  the  very  nature  of  God  a 
"  Father  "  and  a  "  Son  ".  He  saw  the  Son  going  out 
into  the  universe  upon  an  errand  of  God,  and  there 
are  intimations  that  he  saw  a  third  spiritual  person- 
ality concerned  in  the  transaction,  but  beyond  this  he 
does  not  go.  For  any  farther  development  of  the 
Doctrine  of  Christ  we  must  go  to  the  Church  and 
not  to  the  New  Testament.^  And  now,  what  is  the 
substance  of  it  all?  What  but  this? — In  the  career 
of  Jesus  is  exhibited  in  actual  experience  both  the 
ideal  life  and  possibility  of  man ;  and  also  all  of  God 
which  is  expressible  in  terms  of  humanity.  The  mo- 
tive compelling  the  amazing  phenomenon  is  that  God 
is  Love ;  that  he  has  begotten  children ;  that  the 
children,  being  but  children,  are  wandering  with  aim- 
less feet  and  perishing;  that  the  Son,  first-born 
among  many  brethren,  comes  with  his  Father's  bene- 
diction to  lead  them  home ;  that  his  way  leads  through 
pain  and  death;  that  in  the  radiance  of  his  risen  life 
some  of  the  children  at  least — the  Magdalen  first  of 
all — recognize  him  and  cry,  Rabboni,  which  is  to  say. 
Master ! 

The  two   foci  of  the  whole  orbit  of  Christianity 
are  these, — Did  the  man  Jesus  pass  through  death, 

^  It  seems  proper,  for  certain  reasons,  to  say  that  I  stop 
in  the  argument  before  reaching  the  Doctrine  of  the  "  Trinity." 
I  have  stopped  where  the  Catholic  Creeds  stop. 


84  CHRISTIANITY 

and  still  remain  alive?  and,  What  reason  is  there 
to  believe  that  other  men  will,  or  can,  do  the 
same?  Is  the  matter  of  personal  immortality  in 
any  way  connected  with  Jesus  who  is  called  the 
Christ? 


BODY  AND  SOUL 


"  It  may  be  that  these  things  are  all  vain;  and  that 
our  own  spiral  of  lights  no  less  than  that  of  the  bees, 
has  been  kindled  for  no  other  purpose  save  that  of 
amusing  the  darkness.  But  also  it  is  possible  that  some 
stupendous  incident  may  surge  from  another  worlds 
from  new  jDhenomena,  and  either  inform  this  effort  with 
definite  meaning,  or  definitely  destroy  it.  Still  our 
wisest  plan  will  be  to  remain  faithful  to  the  destiny 
imposed  on  us,  which  is  to  subdue,  and  to  some  extent 
raise  within  and  around  us  the  obscure  forces  of 
life  " — Maeterlinck. 


V 
BODY  AND  SOUL 

Since  men  have  known  anything  they  have  known 
that  there  is  some  connection  between  the  soul  and 
the  body.  The  first  savage  who  was  knocked  sense- 
less by  the  blow  of  another  savage's  club  must  have 
learned  by  that  rude  experiment  that  a  broken  head 
interrupted  or  confused  his  thought.  One  of  the 
most  amazing  things,  however,  in  the  history  of  the 
race  is  the  way  in  which  the  significance  of  this  gen- 
eral fact  failed  to  be  recognized.  There  was  here 
one  of  those  vicious  circles  within  which  human 
thought  remained  confined  for  ages.  It  was  assumed 
that  mind  and  body  were  two  separate  and  inde- 
pendent things,  living  together,  but  each  with  a  life 
of  its  own.  The  falsity  of  this  could  not  be  seen 
until  the  true  relation  between  them  should  be  dis- 
covered ;  and  the  true  relation  could  not  be  seen  until 
the  false  assumption  was  abandoned.  So  the  matter 
remained  until  our  own  time.  The  soul  was  believed 
to  inhabit  the  body  as  a  tenant  dwells  in  a  house 
upon  an  uncertain  lease.  That  the  two  should  inter- 
act upon  each  other  was  no  more  thought  than  that 
a  house  could  affect  the  character  of  a  tenant.  The 
sum  of  knowledge  was  that  when  the  house  fell  into 

87 


88  CHRISTIANITY 

decay  or  was  broken  up  by  catastrophe,  the  tenant 
moved  away.  Aberrations  or  confusions  of  the  mind 
were  accounted  for  by  the  operations  of  other  spirits. 
Possession,  obsession,  demoniacal  influences,  ac- 
counted for  insanity,  and  free  and  independent  exist- 
ence of  the  mind  accounted  for  sanity.  It  is  hardly 
more  than  a  century  since  the  nexus  of  mind  and 
body  began  to  be  studied.  When  Hartley  announced 
his  theory  that  mental  action  was  dependent  upon 
definite  functions  of  the  brain  he  met  with  almost 
universal  incredulity.  When  Cabanis,  half  a  century 
later,  delivered  his  brutal  dictum  that  "  the  brain 
secretes  thought  as  the  liver  secretes  bile ",  he 
shocked  society,  not  because  he  said  a  thing  grossly, 
but  because  he  said  it  at  all.  Now  it  has  become 
part  of  everyday  knowledge  that  mind  and  body  are 
so  essentially  interrelated  that  the  diverse  faculties 
of  the  mind  are  bound  up  with  certain  specific  por- 
tions of  the  brain  and  nervous  system.  Whatever 
may  be  said  of  the  overfanciful  .refinement  of  the 
anatomist  in  trying  to  locate  too  minutely  the  nervous 
areas  which  are  concerned  with  definite  psychic  ac- 
tivities, the  general  fact  is  accepted.  We  do  not 
now  send  our  insane  to  be  exorcised.  We  do  not  hold 
a  sick  man  morally  responsible  for  his  mental  or 
moral  vagaries.  The  whole  world  allows  that  physical 
lesion  produces  a  state  of  mind.  But  the  implications 
of  this  admission  are  incalculable.  Dr.  Keene  re- 
ports this  case  to  me.  A  lad  of  fifteen  is  brought  to 
him  suff*ering  from  epilepsy.     He  is  a  partial  im- 


BODY  AND  SOUL  89 

becile,  slavering,  violent,  obscene,  untruthful,  thiev- 
ish, a  foul  travesty  of  humanity, — a  youthful 
Caliban.  Certain  symptoms  point  to  a  pressure  upon 
a  certain  spot  of  his  brain.  An  unnoticed  and  for- 
gotten scar  confirms  the  diagnosis.  The  skull  is 
trephined,  the  pressure  removed,  and  the  epilepsy  is 
cured.  But  that  is  the  least  of  it.  His  obscenity, 
deceit,  and  dishonesty  are  cured  also.  Not  seven 
devils  have  been  cast  out  of  his  soul,  but  a  little  point 
of  bone  has  been  lifted  out  of  his  brain.  The  result 
is  the  same.  But  the  barest  recognition  of  this  fact 
renders  necessary  a  new  definition  of  the  soul.  The 
"  soul  "  has  seemingly  been  convicted  of  false  pre- 
tences. Instead  of  being  an  independent  entity,  living 
in  the  body  and  dominating  it,  it  appears  to  be  but 
a  convenient  word  to  designate  the  complex  sum  total 
of  the  highest  output  of  the  organized  body.  As 
Haeckel  puts  it^  "  all  the  phenomena  of  the  psychic 
life  are  without  exception  bound  up  with  certain  ma- 
terial changes  in  the  living  substance  of  the  body.  We 
do  not  attribute  any  peculiar  '  essence  '  to  its  soul. 
We  consider  the  psyche  to  be  merely  a  collective  idea 
of  all  the  psychic  functions  of  protoplasm  ". 

This  is  the  last  word  of  science  upon  the  soul.  Nor 
can  we  dismiss  it  or  disregard  it  as  only  the  ipse  dixit 
of  an  extreme  scientific  dogmatist.  No  doubt  Pro- 
fessor Haeckel  can  be  fairly  so  called.  But  then  all 
biologists,  chemists,  physicians  agree  with  him  up  to 
this  point.  Whatever  we  may  find  the  soul  to  be 
over  and  above,  this  fact  we  must  reckon  with,  that  it 


90  CHRISTIANITY 

is  as  dependent  upon  matter  for  its  being  as  matter 
is  dependent  upon  it  for  its  organization.  And  this 
interdependence  of  mind  and  matter  exists  through 
every  step  in  the  range  of  living  things.  In  the 
lowest  forms  of  living  creatures  the  whole  proto- 
plasmic cellular  mass  is  all  body  and  all  mind.  With- 
out organs  or  differentiated  faculties,  any  portion 
of  it  responds  to  any  stimulus  which  may  touch  it. 
In  the  next  higher  stage  the  mind  begins  to  be  local- 
ized. Rudimentary  sense  organs  begin  to  appear, 
little  protoplasmic  filaments  and  pigment  spots  be- 
come the  forerunners  of  organs  of  perception.  In 
another  stage  the  nervous  system  becomes  sufficiently 
organized  to  show  phenomena  which  cannot  be  dis- 
tinguished from  intelligence.  Finally  the  highest  of 
all  psychic  action  shows  itself  by  converging  all 
sensation  upon  a  certain  specific  spot  of  the  nervous 
substance  of  the  brain,  and  being  reflected  back  in 
self-consciousness.  There  is  no  break  or  gap  or 
interruption  in  the  long  series  of  evolution.  From 
the  beginning  to  the  end  physical  progress  and  psy- 
chical progress  are  bound  up  together.  They  do  not 
seem  to  move  always  in  parallel  lines  or  with  an 
equal  pace,  but  to  be  interrelated  parts  of  one  living, 
creeping,  climbing  life.  Mind,  or  at  least  something 
so  much  like  mind  that  their  phenomena  cannot  be 
distinguished,  seems  to  belong  to  organized  matter 
down  to  its  very  lowest  fonn.  Indeed  the  highest 
intellectual  faculties  seem  to  be  but  aggregations  and 
correlations  of  innumerable  primary  sensations,  and 


BODY  AND  SOUL  91 

to  be  dependent  upon  the  action  of  remote  centres, 
so  that  "  memory  "  and  "  volition  "  may  fairly  be 
said  to  be  functions  of  each  and  every  microscopic 
body-cell.  The  ancient  chasm  between  animal  and 
vegetable  life  has  been  long  filled  up.  The  micro- 
scope furnished  the  tool.  Now  it  has  been  estab- 
lished that  the  animal  and  the  vegetable  are  but 
bifurcated  branches  of  a  tree  whose  stem  and  roots 
are  in  common.  Nor  does  inexorable  science  stop 
there.  The  genealogy  of  the  protoplasmic  cell  itself 
has  been  traced.  Every  multicellular  organism  be- 
gins its  life  as  a  stem-cell,  an  impregnated  ovum. 
Even  at  the  beginning  the  cell  has  a  psychic  life  of 
its  own.  And  underneath  this  lies  a  region  wherein 
the  chemical  processes  of  the  not  living  and  the  psy- 
chic action  of  the  living  meet  and  mingle. 

It  seems  probable  that  that  mysterious  and  in- 
scrutable thing  which  we  call  "  life  "  is  being  always 
secreted,  as  it  were,  from  inorganic  matter,  in  the 
secret  places  of  the  earth  and  sea.  It  looks  as  though 
the  old  dictum,  "  ex  ovum  ovo  ",  would  have  to  be 
qualified  at  least.  Spontaneous  Generation  may  be 
a  fact  after  all.  The  chemist  and  the  biologist  have 
done  many  marvellous  things.  If  they  have  not  been 
able  to  transform  any  atom  of  dead  matter  into 
living,  Dr.  Loeb  and  others  have  done  something  so 
much  like  it  that  it  is  best  not  to  deny  the  possibility 
longer.  Moreover,  it  is  hasty  to  conclude  that  be- 
cause men  have  never  done  it,  it  is  never  being  done. 
It  is  hard  to  believe  that  the  sum  total  of  life  has 


92  CHRISTIANITY 

remained  a  constant  quantity  since  the  creation  of 
the  world.  God's  laboratory  of  nature  is  constructed 
upon  an  enormously  complex  scale.  Because  the 
chemist  with  his  vials  and  retorts  cannot  produce  life 
from  lifeless  matter  establishes  no  presumption  that 
it  is  not  being  done  continually  in  ocean's  depth  or 
in  that  boundless  region  of  the  infinitely  little  beyond 
the  ken  of  the  microscope.  Above  all  it  is  perilous 
to  build  a  philosophy  or  a  religious  faith  upon  a 
foundation  which  would  be  destroyed  if  the  generatio 
equivoca  should  turn  out  to  be  a  fact.  Through  the 
efforts  of  chemist  and  biologists,  the  gap  between  the 
inorganic  and  the  organic  worlds  which  once  seemed 
to  be  infinite,  has  been  constantly  narrowed.  No 
student  of  the  physical  sciences  would  be  surprised 
to  learn  any  day  that  the  bridge  which  spans  it  had 
been  discovered. 

Now  the  whole  line  of  thought  briefly  sketched 
above  is  absolutely  new.  Not  only  were  St.  Paul  and 
Augustine  and  Thomas  Aquinas  utterly  unaware  of 
the  facts,  but  so  were  Calvin  and  Jonathan  Edwards 
and  Bishop  Butler.  No  doctrine  of  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead,  or  of  the  life  to  come,  formulated  even 
fifty  years  ago,  can  be  satisfactory  to  the  man  of 
to-day.  The  actual  amount  of  knowledge  accumu- 
lated during  these  years  concerning  the  nature  and 
laws  of  life  and  death,  of  generation  and  decay,  of 
force  and  energy,  and  their  transfoiTnations,  is 
greater  by  an  immeasurable  increment  than  the  sum 
of  all  that  preceded.    To  refuse  to  take  account  of  it 


BODY  AND  SOUL  95 

would  not  only  be  futile,  but  would  write  us  down 
as  less  intelligent  than  the  Fathers,  who  availed  them- 
selves of  all  the  science  they  possessed  to  elucidate 
and  fortify  their  beliefs. 

But  we  cannot  deny  or  evade  the  fact  that  the  new 
biology  and  physics  have  overclouded  the  common 
hope  of  life  in  the  world  to  come.  The  simple  dual- 
ism upon  which  that  hope  has  heretofore  been  based 
is  no  longer  believable.  The  phenomenon  of  a  hu- 
man personality  can  no  longer  be  accounted  for  by 
the  assumption  of  a  temporary  union  of  an  immortal 
soul  and  a  perishable  body.  The  nexus  has  been 
seen  to  be,  not  arbitrary  and  artificial,  but  organic. 
This  conviction,  which  cannot  be  resisted,  has  over- 
weighted and  sunk  in  many  their  belief  in  the  life 
everlasting.  To  many  this  has  been  a  burden  more 
heavy  than  would  be  a  judge's  doom  to  death.  They 
see  that  what  they  call  the  body  and  what  they  call 
the  soul  are  so  identified  in  their  whole  career,  from 
the  germ  cell  to  the  grave,  that  they  cannot  any 
longer  think  of  the  psychic  personality  surviving  the 
break-up  of  the  physical  organism.  When  they  at- 
tempt to  do  so,  they  find  the  same  intellectual  help- 
lessness they  would  if  bidden  to  think  of  shadow  with- 
out substance  or  extension  without  form.  For  them 
not  only  has  the  hope  of  immortality  faded,  but  the 
very  existence  of  such  a  present  fact  as  soul  has 
become  difficult  to  believe.  So  correlated  are  psychic 
and  physical  energy  that  the  soul  of  man  threatens 
to  disappear  as  an  objective  reality. 


94  CHRISTIANITY 

At  this  point  the  attempt  has  often  been  made  to 
find  relief  by  drawing  a  line  through  psj^chic  phe- 
nomena, and  labelling  those  nearest  to  the  physical 
basis  "  Instinct ",  and  those  higher  up  "  Reason  ". 
This  latter,  it  is  contended,  together  with  the  Con- 
science or  ethical  faculty,  constitute  the  soul  proper 
and  are  peculiar  to  man.  Grant,  it  is  said,  all  that 
biology  claims  concerning  the  mental  life  of  animals, 
still  man  is  marked  off  by  the  possession  of  psychic 
qualities  so  different  in  kind  from  those  of  the  lower 
creatures  that  he  still  stands  unique  in  the  possession 
of  a  soul.  This  has  proven,  however,  to  be  but  a 
frail  dike  set  against  the  incoming  of  the  tide.  So 
long  as  psychologists  confined  their  researches  to 
the  human  mind,  this  position  remained  tenable.  As 
early  as  1T60  Remeirus  called  in  question  the  validity 
of  the  distinction  between  Instinct  and  Reason.  The 
time,  however,  was  not  ripe,  and  his  discoveries  at- 
tracted little  notice.  But  during  the  last  half-cen- 
tury Darwin  and  Romanes,  Sir  John  Lubbock,  Wundt 
and  Buchner,  Ladd,  Moulton  and  James,  and  their 
co-laborers  have  conducted  experiments  so  many  and 
so  careful  that  the  former  classification  of  psychic 
action  into  Reason  and  Instinct  has  been  definitely 
abandoned.  Perhaps  it  would  be  more  accurate  to 
say  that  psychic  actions  may  be  thus  distinguished, 
but  that  reason  is  not  confined  to  man  nor  instinct 
to  beasts.  For  example,  among  Indians  and  other 
savages  the  sense  of  direction  is,  so  far  as  one  sees, 
just  as  much  an  instinct  as  it  is  in  the  homing  pigeon. 


BODY  AND  SOUL  95 

The  faculty,  moreover,  seems  to  be  the  same  in  kind, 
and  not  differing  greatly  in  degree.  Nor  is  this  the 
only  "  instinct  "  of  man.  The  newborn  babe  knows 
how  to  suck.  The  young  mother  knows  how  to  hold 
the  babe  to  the  breast.  Sex  desires  know  the  way  to 
their  gratification,  and  the  like. 

But  the  important  fact  for  our  purpose  is  that 
those  higher  faculties,  such  as  reason,  choice,  number, 
shame,  and  duty  show  themselves  in  creatures  far 
below  man  in  the  graduated  scale  of  being.  We  need 
not  stop  to  notice  the  strange  wisdom  of  the  ant  and 
the  bee,  whose  lilliputian  commonwealths  might  in 
many  ways  be  models  for  human  cities.  The  "  rea- 
son ",  however,  which  they  display  shows  such  strik- 
ing limitations  and  peculiarities  that  it  may  be  set 
aside,  if  we  choose,  as  automatic  or  purely  reflex.  A 
characteristic  of  Reason  is  to  discern  an  object  de- 
sired, and  to  use  rational  and  suitable  means  to  attain 
it.  A  very  few  instances,  chosen  at  random  from 
the  mass  of  experiment  and  observation  recorded,  will 
suffice.  I  begin  with  an  experiment  made  by  myself. 
During  a  hunting  trip  I  was  in  camp  with  a  friend 
in  the  wilderness  of  the  far  Northwest.  A  mile  above 
the  camp  was  a  beavers'  dam.  We  visited  or  passed 
it  almost  every  day,  and  every  day  saw  the  marks 
of  the  beavers'  nocturnal  handiwork.  One  day,  to 
see  what  the  inhabitants  of  the  aquatic  village  would 
do,  we  broke  a  chasm  two  feet  wide  in  their  dam. 
Next  day  the  gap  was  mended.  In  the  night  the  ani- 
mals had  gone  ashore,  cut  down  a  tree  eight  inches 


96  CHRISTIANITY 

in  diameter  which  stood  more  than  a  hundred  feet 
from  the  stream.  The  trunk  of  the  tree  was  of  no 
use  for  their  purposes.  They  felled  it  to  procure  the 
small  limbs  which  grew  twenty  feet  from  the  ground. 
The  chips  showed  that  they  had  cut  the  limbs  where 
they  lay  into  pieces  of  the  proper  length  to  mend 
the  hole  in  their  dam  thirty  yards  distant.  Each 
stick  was  just  long  enough  to  reach  across  the  break 
and  allow  enough  to  lap  over  and  hold  at  either  end. 
These  they  had  conveyed  to  the  place,  inserted,  inter- 
laced with  small  twigs,  and  tamped  with  earth  and 
leaves  so  that  the  dam  was  good  as  new.  Now,  note 
what  they  had  done.  First  they  had  surveyed  the 
breach,  and  seen  how,  and  how  alone,  it  could  be 
mended.  Then  they  sought  the  suitable  material  for 
the  repairs.  For  this  they  felled  a  tree  to  secure 
the  limbs  which  were  in  sight,  but  not  within  the 
reach  of  animals  who  could  not  climb.  Then  they 
ascertained  the  length  required  for  the  pieces  to  be 
used.  Then  they  cut  them  off  in  situ  and  carried 
them  to  where  they  were  needed.  The  ultimate  pur- 
pose of  it  all  was  to  save  the  doors  of  their  houses 
from  being  exposed  by  the  threatened  lowering  of 
the  water.  In  what  way,  then,  does  this  action  differ 
in  kind  from  the  reason  of  a  man  who  builds  a 
house. P 

Take  another  instance  quoted  by  Romanes  from 
Thompson.  In  his  camp  in  the  jungle  he  had  a 
monkey  tied  to  a  long  upright  bamboo  pole  by  a 
chain  running  on  a  ring,  which  allowed  the  monkey  to 


BODY  AND  SOUL  97 

climb  to  the  top,  where  was  a  seat  upon  which  he 
passed  most  of  his  time.  While  he  sat  there,  the 
thievish  crows  which  swarmed  about  stole  the  food 
which  was  placed  every  morning  at  the  foot  of  his 
pole.  To  this  he  vainly  expressed  his  objection  by 
chattering  and  slipping  down  in  vain  effort  to  catch 
them.  "  One  morning,  however,  he  appeared  to  be 
seriously  ill;  he  closed  his  eyes,  dropped  his  head, 
and  exhibited  other  evidence  of  severe  suffering.  No 
sooner  were  his  ordinary  rations  placed  at  the  foot  of 
his  pole  than  the  crows,  watching  their  opportunity, 
descended  in  numbers,  and  as  usual  began  to  demol- 
ish his  provisions.  The  monkey  now  began  to  de- 
scend the  pole  by  slow  degrees  as  though  the  effort 
overpowered  him,  and  as  if  so  overcome  by  illness 
that  his  remaining  strength  was  hardly  equal  to  the 
exertion.  When  he  reached  the  ground  he  rolled 
about  for  some  time,  seeming  in  great  agony,  until  he 
found  himself  close  to  the  vessel  where  the  crows  had 
by  this  time  wellnigh  devoured  his  food.  Then  he 
lay  apparently  in  a  state  of  complete  insensibility. 
After  a  little  a  crow  plucked  up  courage  to  approach 
and  stretch  his  neck  toward  the  food.  As  quick  as 
thought  the  monkey  seized  it  and  secured  it  from 
doing  farther  mischief.  He  now  began  to  chatter 
and  grin  with  every  expression  of  gratified  triumph, 
while  the  crows  flew  about  cawing,  as  if  deprecating 
the  chastisement  about  to  be  inflicted  upon  their 
brother.  The  monkey  continued  for  a  while  to  chat- 
ter and  grin  in  triumph ;  he  then  deliberately  placed 


98  CHRISTIANITY 

the  crow  between  his  knees,  and  began  to  pluck  it 
with  the  most  humorous  gravity.  When  he  had  com- 
pletely stripped  it,  except  of  the  larger  feathers  in 
the  wings  and  tail,  he  flung  it  in  the  air,  from  where 
it  fell  to  the  ground  with  a  stunning  shock.  He  then 
ascended  his  pole,  and  the  next  time  his  food  was 
brought,  not  a  single  crow  approached  it."  Now, 
in  what  essential  quality  was  the  mental  action  of 
this  monkey  diff'erent  from  that  of  a  farmer,  with 
a  sense  of  humor,  who  sets  a  trap  for  the  crows  de- 
vouring his  corn? 

Once  again,  selecting  from  that  treasure  house  of 
facts  gathered  by  Darwin.  "  A  troop  of  baboons 
were  observed  crossing  a  valley  in  Abyssinia.  Some 
had  already  ascended  the  opposite  mountain,  and 
some  were  still  in  the  valley,  when  the  latter  were 
attacked  by  dogs,  but  the  old  males  immediately  hur- 
ried down  from  the  rocks,  with  mouths  open,  roaring 
so  fearfully  that  the  dogs  quickly  drew  back.  They 
were  again  encouraged  to  the  attack,  but  by  this 
time  all  the  baboons  had  reascended  the  heights  ex- 
cepting a  young  child  of  about  six  months,  who, 
loudly  calling  for  aid,  climbed  upon  a  block  of  rock, 
and  was  surrounded.  Thereupon,  one  of  the  largest 
males  came  down  again  from  the  mountain,  slowly 
went  to  the  young  one,  coaxed  him  down  and  carried 
him  away,  the  dogs  being  too  much  astonished  to 
make  an  attack ".  What  does  this  action  of  the 
baboon  show  different  from  that  supreme  moral  sense 


BODY  AND  SOUL  99 

which  moves  its  possessor  to  imperil  his  hfe  for  his 
brother? 

Such  facts  as  the  above  might  be  quoted  to  fill  vol- 
umes from  the  mass  of  literature  upon  the  subject 
accumulated  within  a  generation.  One  of  them,  how- 
ever, is  as  good  as  a  thousand.  The  effect  of  them 
all  has  been  to  establish  the  truth  of  the  generalization 
made  by  Darwin  fifty  years  ago.  "  The  difference 
in  mind  between  man  and  the  higher  animals,  great 
as  it  is,  is  certainly  one  of  degree  and  not  of  kind. 
The  senses  and  instincts,  the  various  emotions  and 
faculties,  of  which  man  boasts,  may  be  found  in  an 
incipient,  or  even  sometimes  in  a  well-developed,  con- 
dition in  the  lower  animals  ".  And  Darwin  lies,  with- 
out protest,  in  Westminster  Abbey  ! 

We  have  reached  the  point  where  the  old  phrases, 
"  the  immortality  of  the  soul  ",  and  "  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  body  "  must  take  on  new  meanings  if 
they  are  to  be  comprehended,  and  must  deal  with 
new  difficulties  if  they  are  to  be  retained.  If  the  truth 
which  these  phrases  have  heretofore  expressed  suf- 
ficiently well  is  to  be  kept  alive  among  men,  its  roots 
must  be  traced  to  a  reason  immeasurably  deeper  down 
in  the  nature  of  things  thi^n  is  generally  realized.  If 
it  be  the  fact,  as  it  appears  to  be,  that  belief  in  a 
future  life  is  being  given  up  by  intelligent  men,  we 
may  be  assured  that  it  is  not  because  the  "  instinct 
of  living  "  is  any  less  strong  in  them  than  in  their 
forefathers.  It  is  not  that  they  desire  life  less,  or 
because  they   are  more  willing  to  be   resolved  into 


100  CHRISTIANITY 

nothingness.  It  is  because  their  hope  has  met  defeat 
at  the  hands  of  other  truth  which  has  slowly  shown 
itself.  There  are  multitudes  for  whom  neither  the 
old  phrases  nor  the  old  arguments  will  any  longer 
suffice.  To  clear  these  away  is  an  ungracious  and 
distasteful  task.  They  are  so  intertwined  with  re- 
ligious sentiment  and  human  affection  that  to  disturb 
them  seems  to  some  little  short  of  a  wanton  outrage. 
They  are  formulated  in  creeds,  enshrined  in  poetry, 
hymns,  liturgies.  They  are  ingrained  in  the  very 
fibre  of  religious  faith  and  are  powerful  sanctions  for 
conduct.  Why  disturb  them?  The  only  answer  is,  it 
is  always  best  in  the  long  run  to  know  the  truth.  It 
is  better  that  the  simple  Christian  within  the  Church 
should  have  his  beliefs  disturbed  than  that  his  brother 
should  be  kept  out  of  the  Kingdom  by  these  beliefs. 
It  is  not  only  better  intrinsically,  but  it  is  also  the 
way  of  Christ.  The  little  ones  whom  he  warned 
against  offending  were  those  who  were  kept  out  of  the 
Kingdom  by  the  inconsiderate  action  of  those  within. 
We  need  have  no  fear  that  belief  in  "  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  dead  and  the  life  of  the  world  to  come  " 
will  be  abandoned,  provided  only  it  be  conceived  of 
in  such  a  way  as  will  allow  it  to  be  correlated  with 
all  else  which  we  know  to  be  true. 


THE  BASIS  OF  IMMORTALITY 


"  In  progress  toward  the  goal^  nature  will  have  to 
be  consulted  continuously.  Already^  in  the  case  of  the 
ephemerids,  nature  has  produced  a  complete  cycle  of 
normal  life  ending  in  natural  death.  In  the  problem 
of  his  own  fate,  man  must  not  be  content  with  the 
gifts  of  nature;  he  must  direct  them  by  his  own  effort. 
Just  as  he  has  been  able  to  modify  the  nature  of 
animals  and  plants,  he  must  attempt  to  modify  his 
own  constitution  so  as  to  readjust  its  disharmonies  ". 

Metchnikoff. 


VI 
THE  BASIS  OF  IMMORTALITY 

Two  things  are  usually  taken  for  granted  in  all 
discussions  concerning  future  life.  One  is  the  essen- 
tial immortality  of  the  soul;  the  other  is  that  the 
same  kind  and  quality  of  soul  is  common  to  all  men. 
Are  these  assumptions  warranted?  To  merely  raise 
the  question  will  seem  preposterous  to  some.  Never- 
theless the  question  must  be  asked.  For  the  present 
I  postpone  any  attempt  to  define  sharply  the  term 
soul,  and  use  it  in  its  popular  sense,  which  is  for 
this  stage  of  the  argument  sufficiently  definite. 

It  is  commonly  assumed  that  each  individual  soul 
had  a  beginning,  but  is  so  constituted  and  com- 
pounded of  such  stufF  that  it  is  intrinsically  imper- 
ishable. This  belief  lies  at  the  bottom  of  the  current 
conceptions  of  Judgment,  Heaven,  and  Hell.  To 
many  it  will  be  a  surprise  to  be  assured  that  this  is 
not  a  Christian  belief  at  all,  but  a  pagan  one. 
Neither  is  it  now,  nor  has  it  ever  been,  the  general 
belief  even  in  paganism.  The  great  mass  of  savage 
and  semi-civilized  men  have  never  had  any  clear 
opinion  upon  the  matter  either  way.  Indeed,  they 
do  not  think  of  "  the  soul "  at  all  in  the  way  we  do. 
They  often  have  a  sort  of  vague  notion  of  a  shadowy 

103 


104  CHRISTIANITY 

double  of  the  individual,  which  may  for  a  time  flit 
about  his  tomb  or  roam  in  happy  hunting  grounds ; 
but  they  do  not  possess  any  such  abstract  concep- 
tions as  "  eternal  ",  "  immortal  ",  or  "  self-existent  ". 
When  they  advance  farther  in  the  path  of  thought 
they  either  think  of  the  personality  maintaining  a 
kind  of  family,  corporate  perpetuity,  as  throughout 
Eastern  Asia  generally ;  or  else  they  think  of  the 
individual  as  seeking  to  lose  his  identity,  and  finally 
losing  it  in  Nirvana,  which,  for  the  individual  con- 
sciousness at  any  rate,  is  the  end  of  being.  The 
general  thought  of  intelligent  paganism  can  hardly 
be  better  stated  or  by  a  more  competent  witness 
than  Wu  Ting  Fang,  sometime  Chinese  Ambassador 
to  the  United  States : — 

"  What  I  understand  by  religion  is  a  system  of  doctrine 
and  worship.  As  such  it  recognizes  the  existence  of  a  divine 
supreme  being  and  of  spirits  having  control  of  human  des- 
tinies, who  want  to  bring  men  back  from  the  error  of  their 
ways  by  holding  up  the  fear  of  everlasting  punishment  and 
offering  everlasting  happiness  for  goodness.  One  of  its  car- 
dinal doctrines  is  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  life  after 
death.  I  must  confess  that  the  thought  of  the  immortality 
of  the  soul  is  pleasant.  I  wish  it  were  true;  but  all  the 
reasoning  of  Plato  cannot  make  it  anything  more  than  a  strong 
probability.  I  am  not  aware  that  in  the  advance  of  modern 
science  we  have  advanced  one  step  more  from  uncertainty  than 
did  Plato.  It  must  not  be  said  that  Confucius  denies  the 
existence  of  these  things,  but  regards  all  speculation  upon 
them  as  useless  and  impracticable.  He  would  be  called  an 
agnostic  in  these  days.  *What  is  death '.'^  asked  a  disciple 
of  him,  and  he  replied,  'You  don't  know  life  yet;  how  can 
you    know    about    death'?     Such    are    the    guarded    words    of 


THE  BASIS  OF  IMMORTALITY       105 

Confucius  on  this  subject.  Life  itself  is  full  of  mysteries  too 
deep  for  human  thought  to  fathom.  There  is  no  use  in  trying 
to  tear  apart  the  veil  of  death  to  take  a  peep  at  the  place 
beyond.  No  one  has  ever  been  able  to  add  one  tittle  of  evi- 
dence concerning  the  future  of  man  after  death,  and  of  the 
world  of  spirits  ". 

The  fact  is  that  only  within  Christendom  and  Islam 
is  the  immortality  of  the  individual  soul  assumed. 
To  the  contention  that  belief  in  future  life  has  been 
held  always  and  everywhere  and  by  all  men,  the  only- 
reply  is,  the  facts  are  not  so.  It  is  as  far  as  possible 
from  being  true  to-day.  The  overwhelming  majority 
of  men  are  now,  as  always,  at  too  low  a  stage  of 
intellectual  development  to  comprehend  the  thought. 
The  most  that  can  be  said  is  that  among  most  people 
is  a  rather  vague  and  incoherent  notion  that  the 
individual  will  retain  a  kind  of  tenuous  existence  for 
a  longer  or  shorter  time  after  death.  But  it  is,  at 
its  clearest,  only  a  phantom-like  being,  and  they  do 
not  conceive  it  as  eternal,  nor  does  the  term  eternal 
convey  any  meaning  to  them.  Moreover,  the  testi- 
mony of  the  most  trustworthy  observer  is  that  from 
among  many  peoples  this  whole  set  of  ideas  is 
entirely  absent.  The  Bushmen  of  South  Africa,  the 
Veddahs  of  Ceylon,  the  Blacks  of  Australia,  the 
Diggers  of  Utah,  and  such  like  do  not  seem  to  have 
any  more  idea  of  a  post-obituary  existence  than  do 
the  beasts  of  the  field.  Indeed,  the  history  of  thought 
witnesses,  as  clearly  as  it  can  witness  to  anything, 
that  it  is  not  until  a  really  high  state  of  intellectual 


106  CHRISTIANITY 

development  is  reached  that  any  idea  of  future  life 
emerges,  and  that  belief  in  the  soul  as  a  self-existent 
entity  is  not  reached  until  intellection  has  well-nigh 
reached  its  summit.  Not  until  Democritus  and 
Empedocles  and  Plato  and  Socrates,  and  Epicurus 
and  Seneca  become  possible  does  the  idea  of  immor- 
tality appear.  At  a  date  much  earlier  the  Egyptians 
had  wrought  out  scientifically  their  scheme  of  the 
future  life;  but  they  by  no  means  predicated  it  of 
all  men,  but  only  of  the  "  good  "  and  of  these  only 
after  they  had  been  rendered  immortal  by  union 
with  Osisiris.  Among  the  early  Hebrews  the  idea 
was  scarcely  present  at  all.  Says  the  Grand  Rabbi 
Stein :  "  What  causes  most  surprise  in  reading  the 
Pentateuch  is  the  silence  it  seems  to  keep  respecting 
the  most  fundamental  and  consoling  truths.  The 
doctrine  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul  and  the 
resurrection  of  the  body  are  able  powerfully  to  for- 
tify man  against  passion  and  vice,  and  to  strengthen 
his  steps  in  the  rugged  paths  of  virtue.  But  one 
searches  in  vain  for  these  truths  which  he  desires 
so  ardently.  He  does  not  find  either  them  or  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead  ". 

Among  the  later  Jews,  the  contemporaries  of 
Jesus,  the  notions  concerning  the  soul  and  its  destiny 
were  so  incoherent  and  contradictory  that  it  appears 
hopeless  to  attempt  their  reconstruction.  Speaking 
broadly,  they  did  not  conceive  of  the  soul  as  an 
entity  separate  and  independent  of  the  body.  The 
dream  of  a   corporate   or  tribal  immortality  which 


THE  BASIS  OF  IMMORTALITY       107 

they  had  held  before  their  eyes  for  ages  had 
for  the  most  part  rendered  them  careless  of  the  des- 
tiny of  the  individual.  If  "  Israel  "  were  to  abide 
to  the  ages  of  ages,  it  mattered  little  what  became 
of  his  children  one  by  one.  The  most  intelligent 
and  influential  section,  the  Sadducees,  were  frank 
materialists.  They  believed  "  neither  in  angels  nor 
demons  nor  in  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  ".  The 
Pharisees  were  divided  into  paltry  schools,  and  were 
busy  debating  such  trivial  puzzles  as  whether  or  not 
one  should  rise  with  his  clothes  or  naked,  whether 
he  would  burrow  like  a  mole  underneath  the  earth 
so  as  to  rise  in  the  sacred  soil  of  Judea,  or  rise  in 
pagan  soil  and  be  instantly  rapt  through  the  air 
to  the  holy  land.  But  none  of  them  believed  in  or 
expected  resurrection  or  immortality  for  any  but 
members  of  the  chosen  race.  An  immortality  be- 
longing to  man  as  such,  and  based  upon  the  essential 
deathlessness  of  the  soul,  was  utterly  foreign  to  their 
thought.  Dr.  Piepenbring  states  their  belief 
thus : — 


"  Along  with  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead 
which  arose  and  was  developed  among  the  Palestinian  Jews, 
we  see  the  doctrine  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul  take  shape 
among  the  Jews  of  Alexandria.  It  appears  for  the  first  time 
in  the  apochryphal  book  of  Wisdom.  According  to  this  book 
souls  pre-exist,  and  are  confined  to  the  body  as  in  a  prison. 
The  souls  of  the  righteous  are  in  the  hands  of  God;  after 
they  have  passed  through  the  crucible  of  trial  they  shine,  they 
judge  the  nations,  they  govern  peoples;  thus  the  righteous  live 
forever.    The  wicked  seem  to  be  fated  to  annihilation.     These 


108  CHRISTIANITY 

ideas  are  still  farther  developed  by  Philo,  by  whom  it  clearly 
appears  they  were  borrowed  from  Plato  ". 

I  pass  over  for  the  present  the  teaching  of  Jesus 
and  the  New  Testament.  That  must  form  the  basis 
of  the  truth  we  seek  later  on,  and  must  be  examined 
more  at  leisure.  Awaiting  that  I  ask, — What  did 
the  people  of  the  early  Christian  Church,  say  during 
the  first  four  centuries,  believe  generally  concerning 
the  soul  and  its  possible  destiny?  We  need  not  be 
surprised  to  find  that  their  beliefs  were  confused 
and  contradictory.  No  matter  what  the  teaching 
of  Jesus  in  the  premises  may  or  may  not  have  been, 
the  early  Christians  came  to  it  with  presuppositions 
and  habits  of  thought  already  formed.  As  has  been 
already  pointed  out,  it  is  never  possible  for  a  man 
to  disentangle  himself  at  once  from  his  old  beliefs 
in  taking  in  new  truth.  Both  Greek  and  Roman 
preconceptions  were  present,  as  well  as  Hebrew  ones. 
Indeed  they  were  far  more  potent;  for  even  in  the 
first  century  the  Church  had  moved  completely  away 
from  its  Hebrew  entourage,  and  was  thereafter  re- 
cruited from  heathens.  A  careful  study  of  the  ante- 
Nicene  "  Fathers  "  can  but  convince  one  that  in 
and  among  them  a  number  of  ethnic  notions  were 
striving  to  express,  each  in  its  own  terms,  the  truth 
which  Christ  had  left  among  them.  The  early  Chris- 
tians had  all  been  reared  in  the  religions  either  of 
Judea  or  Greece  or  Rome.  Those  among  them  who 
had  been  reared  Jews  unconsciously  transferred  their 
idea  of  a  corporate  or  tribal  immortality  from  their 


THE  BASIS  OF  IMMORTALITY       109 

old  faith  to  the  new,  and  their  imaginations  were 
filled  with  the  vision  of  a  "  Second  Coming  "  and  a 
"  New  "  Jerusalem.  Those  who  were  Greeks  brought 
to  the  new  religion  the  Platonic  idea  that  the  in- 
dividual soul  is  imperishable,  being  in  fact  an  articu- 
late portion  of  the  substance  of  the  mind  of  God. 
Those  of  Roman  antecedents,  having  no  inherited 
belief  in  a  future  life  of  any  kind,  were  better  pre- 
pared to  understand  the  truth  of  Christ.  The  inter- 
action of  all  these  fragments  of  previous  philosophy 
produced  a  confusion  and  uncertainty  of  mind  which 
was  not  clarified  for  five  centuries.  Then  the  mas- 
terful Augustine,  the  man  who  fixed  the  lines  in  which 
the  thought  of  the  civilized  world  ran  from  the  sixth 
century  to  the  nineteenth,  took  Plato's  doctrine  of 
the  immortality  of  the  soul,  disengaged  it  from 
metempsychosis  and  transmigration,  and  gained  for 
that  general  acceptance  which  it  has  held  to  this  day. 
Clement  (/.  Epis.,  xxvi)  teaches  the  resurrection 
of  the  good,  and  proves  it  by  an  appeal  to  the  well- 
known  phenomenon  of  the  phoenix  rising  from  his 
ashes,  but  has  no  expectation  of  future  life  for  the 
wicked.  Justin  Martyr  in  one  place  (7.  Apol.,  xvii) 
expects  the  resurrection  both  of  the  just  and  the 
unjust,  and  proves  it  by  appealing  to  the  recognized 
fact  that  departed  human  souls  are  even  now  in  a 
state  of  sensation,  as  is  shown  by  their  being  invoked 
by  magi  and  dream-senders,  as  well  as  at  the  oracles 
of  Dodona  and  Pytho.  In  another  place,  however 
{Dialog,   Try  ph.,   v.),   he   expressly   denounces    and 


110  CHRISTIANITY 

dismisses  the  Platonic  doctrine  that  the  soul  is  im- 
mortal. Athenagoras  {De  Resurec.)  takes  for 
granted  unqualifiedly  the  native  immortality  of  the 
soul,  and  makes  a  striking  argument  for  the  resur- 
rection of  the  body.  Tertullian  in  his  treatises  On 
the  Soul  and  On  the  Resurrection  of  the  Flesh  gives 
by  far  the  fullest  presentation  of  what  was  com- 
monly believed  in  liis  circles,  but  it  is  quite  impossible 
to  make  him  consistent  with  himself  or  with  other 
Christian  writers  of  the  same  period.  Upon  the 
whole,  however,  he  leaves  the  impression,  afterward 
confirmed  and  fixed  by  Augustine,  that  he  believes 
the  soul  to  have  an  independent  existence  of  its  own, 
and  to  be  by  its  own  nature  indestructible.  The 
truth  seems  to  be  that  just  as  the  Greek  influence 
gained  domination  in  the  early  Church  the  Platonic 
doctrine  of  a  natural  immortality  which  it  brought 
with  it  came  to  be  accepted.  The  notion  was  with- 
stood from  the  first  as  being  subversive  of  the  very 
essence  of  Christianity.  Theophilus,  Irenjeus,  Cle- 
ment of  Alexandria,  Arnobius,  and,  most  weighty 
of  all,  Athanasius  in  his  treatise  on  the  Incarnation 
of  the  Word  of  God,  all  strenuously  fought  against 
it  as  a  pagan  error  which  brought  to  naught  the 
work  of  Christ.  They  were  defeated,  however,  and 
the  conception  prevailed  which  is  vulgarly  common 
to-day,  of  an  immortal  soul  and  a  mortal  body,  tem- 
porarily joined,  then  sundered,  then  reunited  in 
an  imperishable  personality.  Its  currency  has  prob- 
ably   confused   and   obstructed   the   work   of   Christ 


THE  BASIS  OF  IMMORTALITY       111 

among  men  more  than  all  other  obstacles  combined. 
A  pagan  speculation  has  masqueraded  so  long  as 
an  elemental  Christian  truth  that  now,  when  the 
intelligent  world  is  well  disposed  to  receive  and  com- 
prehend Jesus'  revelation  of  the  life  to  come,  Plato 
stands  across  the  path  and  is  commonly  mistaken 
for  Christ. 

Thus  it  has  been  taken  for  granted  during  many- 
centuries  that  "  Man  "  occupies  a  unique  and  sol- 
itary place  at  the  head  of  the  ranks  of  living  things, 
with  an  impassable  chasm  between  him  and  them, 
and  this  in  virtue  of  his  possession  of  psychic  quali- 
ties which  they  lack.  For  the  purpose  of  the  natu- 
ralist this  classification  is  satisfactory.  But  for 
the  psychologist  it  is  quite  misleading.  It  rests  upon 
physical  data  only.  There  are  races  of  existing 
"  men  "  whose  powers  of  language,  for  example,  seem 
still  in  the  transition  stage  between  articulate  and 
inarticulate  speech.  The  vocal  utterances  of  the 
Bushmen  of  Africa  consisted  largely  of  a  series  of 
peculiar  clicks  that  were  certainly  not  articulate 
speech,  though  on  the  road  to  it.  The  Pygmies  of 
Central  Africa  seem  similarly  to  occupy  an  inter- 
mediate position  in  the  development  of  language. 
Those  who  have  endeavored  to  talk  with  them  speak 
of  their  utterance  as  being  inarticulate  sound.  In 
short,  the  great  abyss  which  was  of  old  thought  to 
lie  between  the  language  of  man  and  that  of  the 
lower  animals,  has  largely  vanished,  and  through  the 


112  CHRISTIANITY 

labors  of  philologists  we  can  trace  the  stepping  stones 
over  every  portion  of  the  wide  gap. 

The  same  thing  is  true  concerning  reason,  memory, 
sj^mpathy,  and  love.  The  simple  fact  is  that  in  the 
attempt  to  trace  the  origin,  development,  and  destiny 
of  the  soul,  the  naturalist's  classification  of  "  man  " 
and  "  animal "  must  be  disregarded.  In  advance 
one  cannot  say  where  the  line  between  mortal  and 
immortal  creatures  will  be  found.  It  may  conceiv- 
ably coincide  with  the  one  which  marks  off  Genus 
Homo,  Class  Mammalia,  Order  Prknates;  or  it  may 
be  found  to  run  below  that  so  as  to  include  some 
of  man's  humble  kinsmen;  or  it  may  be  found  neces- 
sary to  settle  upon  a  line  running  irregularly 
through  and  amidst  the  ranks  of  men.  The  soul  has 
its  own  laws  and  announces  its  own  requirements. 
It  may  turn  out  that  all  whom  we  call  men  are  not 
Man.  For  natural  science  it  is  true  that  "  God  hath 
made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  for  to  dwell 
upon  the  earth  ".  They  breed  together,  and  that 
settles  the  question  of  physical  relationship.  But 
there  are  psychic  relationships  between  man  and 
animal  quite  as  intimate  and  as  real  as  the  physical 
relationship  between  man  and  man.  Measured  by 
psychic  standards,  the  interval  between  the  lowest 
man  and  the  highest  is  a  hundredfold  greater  than 
that  between  the  lowest  man  and  the  highest  brute. 
It  may  be  humiliating,  but  it  is  true,  nevertheless, 
that  we  are  far  more  closely  related  to  the  animals 
on  the  spiritual  than  we  are  on  the  bodily  side.     A 


THE  BASIS  OF  IMMORTALITY       113 

comparative  anatomist  would  distinguish  at  sight 
between  the  fossil  bone  of  a  man  and  of  an  ape. 
But  let  a  certain  action  involving  mind  be  described 
to  him,  and  he  may  be  quite  unable  to  say  whether 
the  actors  are  men  or  beasts.  For  example,  here 
is  one  related  by  James  Forbes  in  his  "  Oriental 
Memoirs  " : — 

*'  One  of  the  females  had  been  killed  and  her  body  carried 
to  our  tent.  Forty  or  fifty  of  the  tribe  soon  gathered  around 
the  tent,  chattering  furiously  and  threatening  an  attack,  from 
which  they  were  diverted  only  by  the  display  of  the  guns, 
whose  effects  they  perfectly  understood.  But  while  the  others 
retreated  the  leader  stood  his  ground,  continuing  his  threaten- 
ing. Finding  this  of  no  avail,  he  came  to  the  door  of  the  tent 
alone,  moaning  sadly,  and  by  his  gestures  seemed  to  beg  for 
the  dead  body.  When  it  was  given  him  he  took  it  up  in  his 
arms  and  carried  it  away  to  his  companions." 

What  we  are  seeking  is  a  spiritual  organism 
sufficiently  developed  to  cohere  through  the  shock 
of  physical  dissolution.  If  we  must  predicate  immor- 
tality of  every  sentient  being  which  possesses  reason, 
affection,  and  ethical  faculty,  then  we  must  enlarge 
the  borders  of  Hades  to  receive  innumerable  animals. 
If  we  demand  a  higher  psychic  basis  to  make  con- 
tinued existence  possible,  then  we  may  well  be  forced 
to  deny  it  to  multitudes  of  beings  which  we  call  men. 
There  has  seemed  to  be  no  deliverance  from  this 
dilemma,  because  we  have  assumed  that  the  natural- 
ist's classification  of  man  and  animal,  which  is  real 
in  the  physical,  is  also  valid  in  the  psychic  realm. 


114  CHRISTIANITY 

While  it  was  believed  that  all  mankind  were  the 
children  of  a  single  pair,  specially  created,  only  a 
few  thousand  years  ago,  the  difficulty  was  insuper- 
able. But  now  we  know  better.  Geology  has  un- 
folded the  rocky  leaves  of  earth's  history  and  found 
man's  mark  inscribed  aeons  ago.  His  descent  from 
pre-human  and  semi-human  ancestry  is  as  well  es- 
tablished as  any  human  belief  can  ever  be.  To  say 
that  "  Evolution  is  not  proven  "  is  simply  trifling 
with  truth.  Nothing  is  ever  proven  or  can  be  in 
the  sense  that  objection  demands.  But  it  is  so  well 
established  that  the  world  of  thought  and  knowledge 
has  ceased  to  defend  it.  To  determine  in  the  case 
of  any  individual  being  whether  or  not  it  has  attained 
to  the  possession  of  a  soul  capable  of  continuance 
is  difficult  indeed.  But  it  is  no  more  and  no  less 
difficult  than  to  decide  at  what  point  of  its  em- 
bryonic growth  it  becomes  human.  The  ovum  of  a 
man  and  of  a  dog  are  absolutely  indistinguishable. 
The  human  embryo  runs  through  and  recapitulates 
in  a  marvellous  way  the  line  of  ascent  from  the 
low  order  of  life,  through  which  the  race  has  climbed. 
It  has  been  generally  taken  for  granted  that  it 
becomes  possessed  of  a  "  soul  "  at  some  point  be- 
tween the  fertilization  of  the  ovum  and  the  issue 
from  the  womb.  But  for  this  there  is  not  the  slight- 
est evidence.  It  has  been  seen  that  the  very  germs 
themselves  have  an  antecedent  history  as  strange 
and  complex  as  that  of  the  embryo.  They  also 
move,  choose,   select,  repel,  show  preferences,  in  a 


THE  BASIS  OF  IMMORTALITY        115 

word  they  appear  to  have  personalities  of  their  own 
as  really  as  does  the  new-born  babe.  The  biogenesis 
of  the  soul  cannot  any  longer  be  concluded  between 
conception  and  birth.  It  is  already  clear  that  the 
psychic  life  which  we  call  mind  in  man,  instinct  in 
the  beast,  and  affinity  in  the  germ  cell  is  the  same 
thing;  that  it  develops  according  to  laws  of  its 
own;  that  it  is  from  first  to  last  correlated  with 
an  organized  material  structure;  that  at  certain 
stages  in  its  upward  movement  it  takes  on  new  and 
strange  forms  which  could  not  at  all  be  predicated 
from  any  study  of  it  at  a  previous  stage.  But  the 
thing  of  supreme  importance  for  our  purpose  is 
that  the  upward  steps  or  stages  of  physical  evolu- 
tion do  not  at  all  coincide  with  the  steps  or  stages 
of  psychic  evolution.  Reason,  of  a  high  order,  for 
example,  is  found  among  the  coelentera,  seems  to  lie 
dormant  through  the  reptile  stage,  and  shows  itself 
at  unexpected  and  incalculable  places  among  the 
mamalia.  Does  reason  in  man  take  on  any  new 
quality,  in  virtue  of  which  every  individual  becomes 
immortal?  The  secret  which  we  long  to  discover 
is  this: — Does  the  psychic  life  of  an  individual  at 
any  stage  of  evolution  attain  to  such  a  high,  stable, 
and  independent  existence  of  its  own  that  it  will  be 
able  to  subsist  in  spite  of  the  disintegration  of  the 
physical  organism  with  which  it  is  correlated?  What 
are  the  conditions  upon  which  a  survival  must  de- 
pend? Are  these  conditions  satisfied  in  the  psychic 
life   to   be   found   in   the   lower   animals?     Are   the 


116  CHRISTIANITY 

conditions  present  in  the  case  of  every  individual 
of  the  race  which  we  call  Man?  Or  is  the  possibility 
of  individual  immortality  only  reached  at  a  point 
more  or  less  defined  in  the  progress  of  man  him- 
self? In  fine,  is  man  immortal,  or  is  he  only  im- 
mortable? 


IMMORTABILITY 


"  For  man  is^  according  to  nature^  mortal^  as  a  being 
who  has  been  made  out  of  things  which  are  perishable. 
But  on  account  of  his  likeness  to  God  he  can  by  piety 
ward  off  and  escape  from  his  natural  mortality  and 
remain  indestructible  if  he  retain  the  knowledge  of  God, 
or  can  lose  his  incorruptibility  if  he  lose  his  life  in  God  ". 
— Athanasius. 


VII 

IMMORTABILITY 

The  problem  of  immortability,  that  is,  of  poten- 
tial immortality,  has  been  hopelessly  confused  by 
the  traditional  assumption  that  all  those  living 
creatures  who  are  classed  as  Man  on  physical 
grounds  are  also  Man  on  psychical  grounds.  This 
being  assumed,  the  question  of  a  future  life  has 
been  one  concerning  a  race  rather  than  concerning 
individuals.  This  explains  why  all  arguments  for 
immortality  have  been  so  unconvincing.  They  have 
tried  to  prove  too  much.  The  considerations  which 
would  establish  immortality  for  all  men,  in  virtue 
of  the  qualities  which  they  possess  as  men,  are 
equally  valid  for  many  of  the  lower  animals.  The 
point  at  which  we  will  probably  have  to  look  for 
immortability  is  not  at  that  which  separates  man 
from  the  brute,  but  at  that  which  separates  between 
one  kind  of  man  and  all  the  rest.  The  story  is  told 
of  a  distinguished  Frenchman,  who,  to  the  long  argu- 
ment of  a  friend  against  the  possibility  of  a  future 
life,  replied,  "  You  say  you  are  not  immortal? 
Very  probably  you  are  not ;  but  I  am  ".  This  is 
much  more  than  a  smart  repartee.  It  is  the  solution 
of  a  problem   otherwise   insoluble.     Whatever  may 

119 


120  CHRISTIANITY 

be  the  difficulty  in  drawing  such  a  line  among  men 
does  not  concern  us  at  this  point  in  the  argument. 
It  is  enough  for  the  present  to  point  out  that  it 
is  far  less  difficult  to  draw  the  line  this  way  than 
any  other  way.  We  but  faintly  realize  how  low 
in  the  scale  of  being  the  lowest  man  is,  or  how  high 
the  highest  is.  Beings  are  living  upon  the  earth 
to-day  at  every  conceivable  stage  between  that  of 
the  semi-human  Akka,  who  has  no  religion,  no  super- 
stitions, no  developed  moral  sense,  and  the  enlight- 
ened American  or  European  Christian  whose  sense 
of  moral  personality  is  far  stronger  than  is  his 
sense  of  physical  being.  It  appears  to  be  most 
reasonable  that  at  some  point,  yet  to  be  defined, 
but  between  these  extremes,  the  "  power  of  an  endless 
life  "  is  reached. 

We  have  now  reached  the  point  where  the  crucial 
question  must  be  faced.  If  we  are  driven  to  believe 
that  immortality  may  be  predicated  of  some  mem- 
bers of  the  race,  or  of  one  kind  of  man,  then  we 
must  ask.  Where  is  the  line  to  be  drawn?  At  what 
point  in  the  upward  movement  does  the  individual 
personality  take  on  those  qualities  which  may  enable 
it  to  survive  the  death  of  the  body?  Upon  what 
does  immortality  depend?  What  are  its  conditions? 
How  can  those  conditions  be  fulfilled?  Are  they 
at  all  under  the  control  of  the  individual  will?  Or 
is  the  individual  on  entering  into  the  eternal  life 
as  passive  and  helpless  as  he  is  in  being  ushered  into 
this  world  from  the  womb? 


IMMORTABILITY  121 

Before  attempting  any  reply  to  these  questions 
it  will  be  well  to  stop  long  enough  to  make  one  or 
two  needful  distinctions.  In  the  first  place,  there 
have  been  not  a  few,  both  in  ancient  and  modern 
times,  who  have  maintained  the  truth  of  a  "  Con- 
ditional Immortality  ".  But  they  have  in  every  case 
assumed  that  all  human  beings  are  by  nature  pos- 
sessed of  the  same  endowments.  If  some  become  im- 
mortal and  others  do  not,  it  is  only  because  immor- 
tality is,  as  it  were,  impressed  upon  some  from  the 
outside.  It  is  a  gift  arbitrarily  bestowed.  It  is 
because  one  has  been  born  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in 
Baptism,  and  another  has  not ;  or  because  one  has 
partaken  of  the  imperishable  body  and  blood  of 
Christ  in  the  Holy  Eucharist,  and  another  has  not; 
or  it  is  because  one  has  by  a  deliberate  act  of  will 
"  accepted  Christ  ",  and  on  the  instant  been  "  born 
again  "  or  such  like.  The  "  condition  "  which  the 
advocates  of  conditional  immortality  have  always 
propounded  have  been  extraneous,  arbitrary,  arti- 
ficial. What  we  maintain  is  something  radically 
different.  No  doubt  the  conditions  named  above  may 
be  found  to  be  concerned,  but  the  distinction  itself 
is  far  deeper,  more  natural  and  reasonable,  even 
though  it  be  far  more  difficult  to  state.  It  is  a 
biological  process  we  are  seeking  to  trace,  and  a 
biological  classification  we  attempt  to  discover.  It 
may  be  that  the  biological  classification  we  are  in 
search  of  may  turn  out  to  be  also  a  religious  one. 
We  believe  it  will.     But  it  will  be  religious  because 


122  CHRISTIANITY 

it  corresponds  to  an  actual  reality  already  existent, 
and  not  because  of  an  arbitrary  divine  arrangement. 
What  we  maintain  is  that  if  any  human  life  becomes 
capable  of  passing  on  into  another  with  personality 
intact,  it  will  be  because  such  a  life  has  already 
reached  to  a  stage  of  spiritual  fixedness  and  stability 
which  will  make  survival  "  natural  "  to  it,  and  de- 
struction "  unnatural ",  and  that  such  an  achieve- 
ment, if  it  be  reached  at  all,  must  be  along  the  ex- 
tension of  the  same  path  by  which  the  soul  has 
climbed  up  from  the  primordial  slime. 

Again,  it  is  of  the  first  importance  that  we  should 
realize  the  limitations  of  the  problem  before  us.  I 
have  throughout  used  the  term  immortality  as  equiv- 
alent to  survival  after  death.  It  is  necessary,  how- 
ever, from  this  point  on,  either  to  avoid  the  word 
altogether  or  to  reach  an  understanding  as  to  the 
sense  in  which  it  is  used.  Speaking  accurately,  im- 
mortality is  a  quality  which  can  never  be  predicated 
of  any  soul,  either  here  or  hereafter.  "  God  alone 
hath  immortality  "  is  not  only  a  scriptural,  but  a 
scientific  datum.  Eternity  is  a  category  of  the  un- 
conditioned. But  the  soul  is  an  organism;  and  the 
condition  of  every  organism  continuing  in  being  is 
that  it  shall  be  able  to  function,  and  that  it  shall 
correspond  with  its  environment.  In  this  sense  we 
do  not  look  for  immortality.  Our  quest  is  an  humbler 
yet  sufficiently  momentous  one.  We  simply  try  to 
ascertain  from  the  data  available  whether  we  can 
find  a  means  of  transit  for  any  human  personality 


IMMORTABILITY  123 

from  this  life  to  the  next  one.  Whether,  if  that 
prove  possible,  its  life  there  shall  be  brief  or  long  is 
a  question  not  now  before  us. 

The  world  teems  with  hfe.  The  sea  swarms  with 
fishes,  the  land  is  carpeted  with  plants.  Living 
things  populate  the  surface,  creep  and  burrow  be- 
neath the  soil.  Life  is  everywhere,  in  every  drop 
of  water,  in  every  grain  of  dust,  filling  the  still 
summer  air  with  its  multitudinous  drone,  roaring  in 
the  streets  of  men's  great  cities,  crowding  and  chok- 
ing in  the  forests  of  the  tropics.  Try  as  we  may, 
we  cannot  adequately  realize  its  abundance,  its  mul- 
titude, its  myriad  forms  and  ways.  It  emerges  silent 
and  unseen  from  inorganic  matter,  and  crowds  every 
step  of  the  long,  strange,  tortuous  path  upward  to 
its  supreme  manifestation  in  human  self-conscious- 
ness. 

When  we  look  at  it  steadily  we  are  arrested  by 
the  significant  fact  that  the  ultimate  goal  of  each 
individual  is  to  pass  on  to  another  the  life  which 
it  possesses.  If  it  can  only  reproduce,  it  is  ready 
to  die.  Its  organs  of  reproduction  are  the  ones  to 
which  all  others  are  ministrant.  Its  provisions  for 
locomotion  and  digestion  are  but  means  to  this  end. 
Countless  millions  only  exist  long  enough  to  copulate, 
and  give  up  their  lives  in  the  act.  In  the  vegetable 
world  this  is  the  universal  rule.  To  the  same  end 
the  instincts  and  appetites  are  subsidized.  The 
"  imperious  instinct  of  propagation  "  dominates  all 
desires,  is  stronger  than  pain  or  even  the  fear  of 


IM  CHRISTIANITY 

death.  In  all  except  the  highest  forms  it  is  not 
even  left  to  choice.  Reproduce  they  must,  even  if 
it  cost  life.  In  the  whole  organic  world  every  other 
consideration  is  subordinated  to  the  single  purpose 
of  keeping  the  stream  of  life  flowing.  This  deter- 
mination is  so  inexorable  that,  lest  it  may  be  defeated, 
a  thousand  individuals  are  brought  into  life  only 
to  perish,  in  order  to  make  sure  that  from  among 
them  all  one  may  reproduce.  Even  in  man  the  pro- 
vision for  reproduction  determines  the  whole  plan 
of  his  being.  His  term  of  life  is  adjusted  to  the 
length  of  time  required  to  reach  puberty.  When  his 
power  to  reproduce  declines,  he  begins  to  die.  His 
intellectual  habits  are  correlated  to  this  function. 
His  social  habits  are  ultimately  fixed  with  reference 
to  this  need.  "  Be  fruitful  and  multiply  "  is  the 
primordial  command  stamped  upon  the  very  con- 
stitution of  animate  nature. 

But  once  this  truth  has  been  realized,  it  leads  us 
to  confront  the  supreme  difficulty.  Life  seems  to 
be  everything,  and  the  individual  nothing.  If  only 
the  species  can  win  its  way  forward  and  upward, 
the  unit  appears  to  be  of  no  value.  We  appear  to 
be  caught  in  the  current  of  a  mighty  moving  stream 
of  life  which  will  assimilate  our  juices  and  sink  us 
in  the  slime  or  fling  us  dead  upon  the  shore,  without 
ruth,  even  as  without  anger.  The  life  is  everything ; 
the  organism  in  which  the  life  is  for  the  moment 
conserved  seems  to  be  nothing.  Now,  if  an  indi- 
vidual immortality  is  to  become  possible,  nothing  less 


IMMORTABILITY  125 

is  necessary  than  a  reversal  of  this  elemental  law. 
It  is  clear  that  that  can  only  be  achieved  if  an 
individual  be  found  who  is  stronger  than  his  species. 
Up  to  this  point  life  sweeps  round  everlastingly  in 
a  closed  circle,  from  seed  through  plant  or  animal 
to  seed  again,  and  so  about  continually.  If  escape 
from  it  be  ever  possible  it  must  be  at  a  tangent  and 
by  some  kind  of  individual  whose  life  orbit  sweeps 
far  enough  away  from  its  material  centre  to  be 
caught  in  some  mighty  attraction  from  beyond.  And, 
to  continue  the  figure,  the  difference  between  the 
individual  who  passes  on  and  the  one  who  remains 
enchained  within  the  circle  of  nature  need  be  only 
infinitesimal,  provided  it  occur  at  the  right  point. 
An  illustration  which  may  serve  to  make  the  matter 
plainer  may  be  drawn  from  mathematical  physics. 
Take  the  case  of  two  bodies  moving  through  space. 
One  of  them  has  for  its  path  the  extremest  conic 
section,  a  curve  with  the  greatest  possible  eccen- 
tricity. The  path  of  the  other  is  a  parabola.  The 
difference  between  the  two  curves  is  literally  infin- 
itesimal; yet  moving  in  the  one  the  body  must 
ultimately  return  to  the  point  from  which  it  started, 
while  the  other  will  move  out  into  infinite  space. 
May  we  not  similarly  expect  that  a  difference  cor- 
respondingly slight  in  the  psychic  movement  of  an 
organism  may  produce  a  result  equally  important  ? 

In  the  lowest  order  of  life  there  are  really  no 
individuals  at  all.  It  is  simply  a  speck  of  pro- 
toplasmic jelly,  uniform  and  slightly  sensitive.     It 


126  CHRISTIANITY 

has  no  limbs,  organs,  or  members.  To  multiply  it 
merely  breaks  in  two.  Each  part  is  as  much  or 
as  little  offspring  as  it  is  parent  or  self.  Each 
half,  in  turn,  divides  again,  and  so  the  propagation 
goes  on.  It  cannot  be  said  that  individuality  belongs 
to  any  of  its  units,  for  each  unit  is  divisible,  and 
it  is  the  essence  of  personality  to  be  indivisible. 
In  a  higher  stage  of  being  a  sort  of  compound  or 
communistic  individuality  begins  to  show.  Not  until 
a  comparatively  high  stage  of  evolution  does  the 
real  individual  appear  "  whose  life  is  in  itself ". 
Then  he  appears,  only  to  live  his  little  life,  beget 
a  child  if  he  can,  and  perish.  The  multitude  of 
living  forms  merge  as  it  were  into  a  mighty  river 
flowing  through  the  seons  and  dropping  over  the 
precipice  to  death,  more  numerous  than  all  the 
drops  at  Niagara.  Nor  does  the  spectacle  cause 
moral  distress  or  revolt  until  the  individual  atoms 
come  to  be  of  such  consequence  that  we  rebel  at 
the  aimlessness  of  it  all.  No  beast  has  been  de- 
frauded of  any  due  because  it  has  to  die.  Mere  ex- 
istence and  sensation  have  been  for  it  a  boon,  whether 
its  life  be  short  or  long.  This  is  also  true  of  the 
brute-like  man,  and,  what  is  of  more  consequence, 
it  is  his  own  judgment  in  the  case.  He  clings  to 
life  for  its  own  sake,  and  the  lower  in  the  scale  he 
is  the  less  tenacious  he  is.  Even  Laertes  can  face 
the  end  with  a  light  heart  because  he  has  had  his 
life.  Not  till  a  Hamlet  arrives  does  he  begin  to 
question  whether  it  is   better   to   be   or  not   to   be. 


IMMORTABILITY  127 

Considering  the  whole  human  race,  from  its  primeval 
brutishness  until  now,  it  is  probable  that  the  over- 
whelming majority  have  no  unliquidated  claim  upon 
existence.  They  have  had  the  gift  of  living,  have 
made  of  it  all  that  could  be  made,  and  there  is  nothing 
more  due  them.  But  there  are  many,  surely,  of 
which  more  can  be  said.  Their  psychical  life  is 
stronger  than  their  physical;  their  affections  are 
stronger  than  their  appetites ;  their  spirits  have  es- 
tablished so  many  relations  with  other  personalities, 
with  nature  as  a  whole,  with  ideals  which  are  more 
real  to  their  apprehension  than  is  matter  itself,  with 
the  Infinite  Person  whom  they  feel  enfolding  them- 
selves and  nature  in  his  arms,  that  to  think  of  them- 
selves coming  to  naught  because  the  foundation  of 
a  material  body  is  cut  from  under  them  by  death, 
brings  to  our  feeling  a  sense  of  distress  and  un- 
reasonableness which  is  intolerable.  Such  an  one 
has  already  learned  the  secret  of  going  beyond 
himself  by  his  sympathies.  He  is  an  individual,  as 
the  inorganic  crystal  is,  as  the  germ  cell  is,  as 
the  brute  is,  as  the  animal  man  is, — ^but  he  is  some- 
thing more.  In  common  with  all  these  he  is  under 
the  law  which  subordinates  the  individual  to  the 
species,  and  disregards  it  when  it  has  once  served 
its  use  of  reproduction.  But  he  has,  to  some  de- 
gree at  least,  and  in  some  portion  of  his  being, 
escaped  from  this  law  by  having  come  into  the 
possession  of  certain  qualities  which  cannot  be  prop- 
agated by   reproduction.     He  did  not   reach  these 


128  CHRISTIANITY 

qualities  at  the  point  where  he  became  man  by  bodily 
structure,  or  by  the  possession  of  mind,  but  at  an 
uncertain  point  high  above  that  of  primitive  man. 
But  wherever  and  whenever  this  new  faculty  is 
reached,  we  may  fairly  expect  that  it  will  be  pre- 
served in  being.  This  conviction  does  not  come 
alone,  or  in  the  first  place,  from  religious  faith, 
but  from  watching  nature's  ways.  One  thing  science 
knows  quite  well;  that  is,  that  nature  does  not  hesi- 
tate a  moment  to  change  or  to  reverse  methods 
which  she  has  used  through  long  stretches  of  time 
whenever  she  has  something  to  gain  by  such  reversal. 
If  it  shall  appear  at  any  stage  in  the  upward  move- 
ment that  more  is  gained  by  keeping  an  individual 
in  a  continued  life  than  by  breaking  him  up  for 
sake  of  the  species,  we  may  expect  that  nature  will 
find  some  way  to  do  so.  The  inexorable  forces  of 
gravitation  and  chemical  affinity  had  their  own  way 
in  the  universe  for  an  eternity,  until  they  were 
arrested  and  turned  about  in  the  interest  of  life. 
Overproduction,  and  the  survival  of  the  fittest  held 
their  ruthless  sway  until  they  were  reversed  in  the 
interest  of  aff'ection.  The  supremacy  of  the  race 
at  the  expense  of  the  individual  we  may  expect  to 
continue  just  until  something  in  the  individual  comes 
to  be  of  more  importance  than  that  law,  and  no 
longer. 


JESUS'  TEACHING 


"  The  most  common  of  those  feelings  which  present 
obstacles  to  the  pursuit  of  truth  are  aversion  to  doubt; 
desire  of  a  safe  medium;  the  love  of  system;  the  dread 
of  the  character  of  inconstancy;  the  dread  of  innova- 
tion; undue  deference  to  human  authority;  the  fear  of 
criticism;  regard  to  seeming  consistency". — Whately, 
"  On  Bacon's  Essays  ". 


VIII 
JESUS'  TEACHING 

The  idea  of  "  eternal  life  "  has  always  been  asso- 
ciated with  that  of  moral  goodness.  Evil  and  death 
are  cause  and  effect.  Righteousness  and  long  life; 
sin  and  degradation;  this  is  what  men  have  always 
believed  to  be  in  some  way  a  fundamental  truth. 
But  it  is  greatly  to  be  doubted  whether  they  have 
realized  how  true  it  is. 

In  a  very  real  sense  a  race  or  a  people  or  a  nation 
is  an  individual,  with  a  personality  of  its  ow^n.  The 
long  history  of  the  past  is  strewn  with  the  dust  of 
dead  peoples.  In  a  few  instances  their  rise,  climax, 
decline,  and  decay  lie  within  the  historic  period. 
No  doubt  these  arose  from  among  the  ruins  of 
innumerable  earlier  peoples.  Why  have  some  sur- 
vived while  others  perished?  Why  do  one  or  two 
peoples,  or  families  of  peoples  to-day  feel  and  show 
the  sense  of  secure  being,  while  others  are  slowly 
decaying  under  our  eyes?  The  reason  is,  a  people's 
length  of  healthy  life  depends  upon  its  goodness ; 
not,  finally  upon  its  physical  vigor,  or  its  mental 
advance,  but  its  moral  worth.  Mr.  Gladstone  main- 
tained that  the  physical  and  intellectual  equipment 
of  the  average  Greek  of  the  time  of  Pericles,  was 

131 


132  CHRISTIANITY 

considerably  higher  than  that  of  the  average  Eng- 
lishman or  American  of  to-day.  It  is  very  possible 
that  the  Babylonians  and  Egyptians  more  than 
equalled  us  in  these  regards.  The  phallic  symbols 
strewing  the  ruins  by  the  Euphrates,  and  the  abom- 
inations sketched  upon  the  walls  of  Pompeii  give  the 
clue  to  their  decay.  What  prevented  the  American 
Indian,  in  possession  since  the  dawn  of  time  of  the 
most  abundant  region  of  the  earth,  with  his  great 
physical  development  and  mental  force,  from  de- 
veloping a  civilization  which  would  have  been  abid- 
ing? What  explains  the  ruin  of  Rome  and  Con- 
stantinople, and  the  states  of  Asia  Minor  and  North 
Africa .f^  The  answer  is  in  every  case  the  same;  they 
perished  from  lack  of  goodness.  No  other  quality 
could  procure  for  them  continuance  in  existence. 
The  Teutons  have  endured,  and  promise  to  endure, 
in  virtue  of  certain  racial  moral  qualities  which  they 
developed  ages  ago,  and  which  have  saved  them  from 
being  brutalized  by  their  own  strength,  or  from 
sinking  in  their  stupidity.  Goodness  can  thus  arrest 
and  turn  back  for  nations  the  primal  law  of  gi^ow^th, 
vigor,  and  decline.  Is  it  too  much  to  believe  that 
it  may  do  the  same  for  the  individual? 

But  if  anything  like  this  be  true,  it  is  clear  that 
the  chance  of  future  life  turns  upon  a  question  of 
present  fact.  Does  one,  or  does  he  not,  in  any 
instance,  possess  a  moral  energy  sufficiently  strong 
and  coherent  to  dominate  his  life?  The  mere  pos- 
session of  a  potential  faculty  for  goodness,  or  the 


JESUS'  TEACHING  133 

actual  manifestation  of  a  rudimentary  ethical  sense 
will  not  suffice.  Brutes  have  that  much.  The  races 
which  perished  had  the  same.  Only  a  moral  nature 
developed  far  enough  to  take  command  over  the 
turbulent  appetites  and  errant  mind  will  serve  the 
end.  Now,  it  is  clear  that  some  possess  this  quality, 
and  some  do  not.  It  Is  a  quality  correlated  in  some 
degree,  though  not  very  closely,  with  intellectual 
forwardness.  A  simple  hind  may  be  very  good,  and 
an  undevout  astronomer  may  be  morally  an  imbecile. 
We  have  seen  above  that  there  are  now  living 
whole  tribes  of  undeveloped  savages,  who  have  no 
more  moral  energy  than  the  brute, — for  it  must  be 
remembered  that  the  brutes  have  some.  To  raise 
the  question  of  immortality  concerning  them  would 
be  Irrelevant  or  premature.  They  have  not  yet  en- 
tered really  into  the  human  life  which  now  is,  to 
say  nothing  of  that  which  is  to  come.  At  every 
other  plane  of  biologic  advance,  an  individual  here 
and  there,  no  doubt,  rises  far  above  either  his 
fathers  or  his  children,  and  wins  for  himself  the 
power  of  infinite  progression.  But  the  place  of 
escape  from  the  closed  ring  of  what  we  call  nature 
is  not  at  the  body  or  the  mind,  but  the  conscience. 
If  that  gate  be  not  found,  or  If  it  be  too  narrow 
for  egress,  there  cannot,  in  the  nature  of  the  case, 
be  any  thoroughfare.  Nor  is  it  easy  to  expect 
immortality  for  multitudes  far  closer  to  us  than  the 
Pygmies  or  the  Bushmen.  As  one  wanders  observ- 
antly  and  thoughtfully   amongst  the   crowds  which 


134  CHRISTIANITY 

teem  in  the  purlieus  of  a  great  Christian  city,  as  he 
watches  their  faces,  listens  to  their  meagre  speech, 
penetrates  to  the  interior  of  their  shallow  lives, 
realizes  their  brutishness  and  mischievousness,  be- 
comes familiar  with  their  desires  and  ideals  of  life, 
above  all,  as  he  sees  their  look  of  blank  insensibility 
to  any  moral  appeal,  he  is  hard  put  to  it  not  to 
ask  himself, — are  these  really  men?  I  confess 
frankly  that  when  I  have  tried  to  speak  to  certain 
kinds  of  men  of  "  righteousness,  temperance,  and 
judgment  to  come  ",  I  have  felt  that  the  effort  was 
little  less  vain  than  would  have  been  the  same  ex- 
hortation to  my  good  dog.  One  can,  it  is  true,  make 
his  appeal  to  the  fear  of  death,  and  can  thus  evoke 
a  response  in  the  form  of  terror.  But  one  can  do 
the  same  by  pointing  his  gun  at  a  predatory  crow. 
The  fear  of  death  and  the  belief  in  a  future  life 
are  two  entirely  different  things,  and  have  no  neces- 
sary relation  to  each  other.  So  far  as  one  can  see, 
the  fear  of  death,  as  an  emotion,  does  not  differ 
either  in  degree  or  kind  between  the  natural  man 
and  the  natural  beast.  The  natural  man's  life  may 
be  Edenic  or  it  may  be  barren  and  squalid,  but  he 
does  not  come  in  sight  of  the  tree  of  life  until  he 
leaves  it.  Myriads  still  dwell  in  it,  being  yet  as 
"  Adam  "  was.  While  at  that  stage  the  questions 
which  concern  them  are  those  which  are  asked  by 
zoology,  comparative  anatomy,  and  psychology.  Re- 
ligion simply  cannot  speak  to  them  at  all  until  they 
become  as  gods,  knowing  good  and  evil.     When  that 


JESUS'  TEACHING  135 

stage  is  reached,  and  not  till  then,  does  eternal  life 
come  within  the  possibilities.  "  This  is  eternal  life, 
to  know  God  " ;  and  God  is  apprehended  only  through 
the  moral  sense. 

We  may  admit  without  hesitation,  that  it  is  not 
possible  to  define  the  point  at  which  the  capacity 
of  eternal  life  is  reached  in  the  development  of  the 
individual.  This  does  not  touch  the  central  truth. 
No  physicist  can  draw  a  line  and  say,  here  inorganic 
matter  becomes  organic;  no  botanist  can  say,  here 
vegetable  life  becomes  animal;  no  naturalist  can  say, 
here  the  invertebrate  ends  and  the  vertebrate  begins ; 
no  psychologist  can  say,  here  instinct  ceases  and 
reason  begins.  No  anthropologist  can  draw  a  line 
below  man,  or  through  men,  or  in  the  life  of  the 
individual  man,  and  say,  here,  now,  is  conscience. 
But  facts  do  not  cease  to  be  facts  because  their 
classification  is  impossible.  We  may  rest  this  phase 
of  the  argument  at  this  point,  having  in  its  defence 
all  the  broad  analogies  of  nature  and  the  history  of 
peoples.  It  ought  not  to  be  a  surprise,  and  it  ought 
to  be  a  relief,  if  we  find  it  to  be  also  the  teaching 
of  the  Scriptures. 

For  many  it  would  be  of  inestimable  value  to  have 
some  definite  deliverance  of  Jesus  Christ  upon  the 
question  before  us.  Are  all  men  immortal,  or  are 
only  some.f^  Is  a  universal  resurrection  a  thing 
which  he  takes  for  granted,  or  is  it  not?  An  ex- 
plicit dictum  of  his  upon  the  subject  would  be  to 
many  of  us  an  end  of  controversy.     But  it  comes 


136  CHRISTIANITY 

as  a  sort  of  shock  to  be  reminded,  not  only  that 
he  does  not  say,  but  that  he  avows,  at  the  time  when 
he  spoke  upon  the  general  subject,  that  his  informa- 
tion was  limited.  "  Of  that  day  and  hour  no  man 
knoweth,  not  even  the  Son  ".  It  is  not  impossible, 
however,  to  ascertain  at  least  in  general,  what  his 
belief  was.  In  the  first  place  we  have  a  sufficiently 
full  report  in  the  Gospels  of  what  he  actually  said. 
It  is  true  that  the  report  is  incomplete  and  fragmen- 
tary, but  it  is  coherent.  Then  we  have  in  the  other 
portions  of  the  New  Testament  the  interpretation 
and  expansion  of  his  teaching  by  very  intelligent  and 
sympathetic  contemporaries.  Finally,  and  chiefly, 
we  have  his  own  extraordinary  career.  This  last  will 
constitute  a  portion  by  itself;  for  the  present  we 
ask  the  limited  question, — ^What  did  Jesus,  during 
the  period  before  his  "  resurrection ",  believe  and 
teach  touching  the  future  life? 

The  fact  that  liis  language  was  intelligible  to  those 
who  heard  him  is  proof  that  his  general  presump- 
tions were  the  same  as  theirs.  But  it  is  the  simple 
fact  that  they  were  not  believers  in  "  the  immortality 
of  the  soul  ".  If  a  previous  belief  in  inherent  im- 
mortality had  been  needful  to  enable  them  to  under- 
stand his  farther  teaching  in  the  premises,  then  he 
would  have  been  obliged  to  say  so.  The  point  is 
that  he  took  for  his  premises  the  beliefs  which  his 
hearers  actually  entertained.  It  is  at  once  most 
necessary  and  most  difficult  to  bring  ourselves  to 
realize  that  his  hearers  did  not  have  at  all  the  be- 


JESUS'  TEACHING  137 

liefs  which  are  taken  for  granted  now.  Some  of  them 
did  not  believe  in  any  future  Hfe  at  all.  Some  of 
them  believed  in  corporate  immortality  for  the  people 
Israel,  with  which  individual  continuance  had  nothing 
to  do.  Some  of  them  believed  in  the  resurrection 
of  those  of  the  race  of  Abraham  alone.  Some  looked 
for  the  immortality  of  only  the  righteous  of  that 
race.  But  nobody  believed  in  the  immortality  of 
every  human  being  as  such.  It  is  clear,  therefore, 
that  when  he  faces  a  company  of  this  sort,  if  what 
he  was  about  to  teach  was  dependent  for  its  validity, 
upon  that  belief  which  is  now  common,  the  presump- 
tion of  universal  future  life,  he  must  have  said  so. 
But  he  did  not  say  so.  Moreover,  the  assumptions 
now  current  would  not  have  availed  him  at  all.  One 
of  the  most  difficult  things  is  to  read  the  true  mean- 
ing into  a  word  or  phrase  to  which  one  has  long  been 
in  the  habit  of  attaching  a  mistaken  or  secondary 
meaning.  When  we  find  Jesus  using  such  antitheses 
as  "  life  and  death  ",  "  eternal  life  and  destruction  ", 
"  living  and  perishing  ",  it  is  at  least  probable  that 
he  used  the  words  in  their  natural  and  obvious  sense. 
But  we  have  for  so  long  been  accustomed  to  think 
of  eternal  life  as  being  equivalent  to  eternal  happi- 
ness, and  the  converse,  that  it  will  require  a  strenuous 
and  continued  eifort  to  see  in  Jesus'  words  what  they 
meant  and  what  alone  they  could  have  meant  to  those 
who  heard  them.  Another  thing  to  bear  in  mind  is 
that  he  never  deals  in  abstractions.  He  has  nothing 
to  say  about  "  man,"  but  only  about  men.     He  never 


138  CHRISTIANITY 

refers  to  "  the  soul "  or  "  the  human  soul  ".  He 
never  discusses  the  question  of  immortality  in  the 
abstract,  but  only  the  possibilities  and  destinies  of 
individuals.  He  never  assumes  that  man  is  mortal, 
or  immortal,  he  only  points  out  to  the  individual 
which  way  life  lies,  and  which  way  destruction.  And 
what  is  possibly  more  important  for  our  purpose 
than  anything  else,  he  plainly  declares  that  many  will 
be  constitutionally  incapable  of  understanding  him 
at  all.  In  other  words,  he  announces  that  he  speaks 
to  those  whose  spiritual  faculties  are  sufficiently  de- 
veloped to  respond  to  the  stimulus  of  the  truth. 
"  He  that  hath  ears  to  hear,  let  him  hear  ". 

Bearing  these  preliminary  considerations  in  mind 
we  may  now  ask, — What  did  he  say.?  His  teaching 
may  be  divided  into  two  portions  which  differ  greatly 
in  form,  if  not  in  contents.  The  most  prominent, 
but  least  clear,  is  that  extended  address  in  apocalyp- 
tic form,  suggested  by  his  disciples'  inquiry  concern- 
ing the  fate  of  Jerusalem.  The  great  difficulty  in 
the  way  of  determining  his  precise  meaning  here  is 
the  fact  that  the  form  of  the  address  is  evidently 
not  his  own.  It  is  framed  in  that  cryptic  manner 
common  to  all  the  later  apocalypses,  and  is  derived 
from  the  earlier  prophetic  style.^  Dr.  Gould  in 
his  "  Theology  of  the  New  Testament  "  well  says  of 
it,  "  Simple  as  are  these  teachings,  Jesus  has  been 
the  subject  of  the  most  serious  misunderstandings 

^Cf.    Is.    13:9,10;    24:21-23;    Ezek.    32:7-10;    Joel    2:10; 
Dan.  7:13. 


JESUS'  TEACHING  139 

from  the  beginning.  The  last  things  of  which  he 
speaks  are  not  the  end  of  the  world,  but  of  the  age. 
Whatever  was  predicted  here  by  our  Lord  was  to 
take  place  within  the  generation  succeeding  his  death. 
There  is  a  consensus  of  scholars  about  this,  the  only 
question  being  whether  or  not  he  made  a  mistake. 
And  it  is  strongly  against  the  assumption  that  he 
did  make  a  mistake,  that  he  sets  forth  in  the  parables 
a  statement  of  the  slow  growth  of  the  Kingdom 
which  clearly  contradicts  the  idea  of  an  early  com- 
ing ".  In  any  case,  and  whatever  it  may  purport, 
the  last  apocalypse  of  Jesus  is  so  dramatic  in  form 
and  imagery  that  not  much  can  be  learned  from  it 
as  to  the  essential  nature  and  possibilities  of  the 
individual  man.  This  must  be  sought  from  his  more 
definite  teaching. 

When  one  weaves  together  the  words  of  Jesus 
as  they  are  scattered  through  the  Gospels,  he  finds 
that  he  has  before  him  a  biological  treatise. 
He  finds  the  conditions  set  forth  upon  which  con- 
tinuance in  being  is  possible,  the  perils  to  which 
being  is  exposed,  the  means  to  counteract  these 
perils,  and  the  ultimate  issues  of  living.  But  he 
finds  also  that  the  theme  throughout  is  the  life  itself. 
The  alternatives  set  forth  are  not  future  pleasure 
and  future  pain,  but  living  or  ceasing  to  live.  The 
Gospels  are  biological  altogether.  They  speak  a 
language  more  intelligible  to-day  than  It  ever  was 
before.  The  imagery  is  drawn  almost  exclusively 
from   the   processes    and   phenomena   of   life.      The 


140  CHRISTIANITY 

reason  is  evident;  the  illustrations  are  determined 
bj  the  theme.  The  question  is  not  of  rewards  and 
penalties,  but  of  living  or  perishing.  Whatever  of 
pleasure  or  pain  is  implicated  is  incidental.  He  be- 
gins by  stating  the  case  in  terms  which  every  biolo- 
gist knows  to  be  true  of  life  at  every  stage,  "  Enter 
ye  in  at  the  strait  gate;  for  wide  is  the  gate  and 
broad  is  the  way  which  leadeth  to  destruction,  and 
many  there  be  which  go  in  there;  because  strait  is 
the  gate  and  narrow  is  the  way  which  leadeth  into 
life,  and  few  there  be  that  find  it  ".  Of  fifty  seeds 
oft  nature  brings  but  one  to  bear.  "  He  that  hear- 
eth  my  word  and  believeth  on  him  that  sent  me  hath 
everlasting  life  and  shall  not  pass  on  to  destruc- 
tion, but  hath  passed  out  of  death  into  life.  That 
which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh,  and  that  which 
is  born  of  the  spirit  is  spirit.  Marvel  not,  there- 
fore, that  I  say  unto  you  that  except  a  man  be 
born  from  above  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom 
of  God  ".  The  place  of  any  creature  is  determined 
by  its  actions,  for  "  every  plant  is  classified  by  the 
fruits  it  bears.  Men  do  not  gather  grapes  from  the 
acanthus  nor  figs  from  brambles.  A  good  plant 
cannot  produce  bad  fruit,  nor  an  evil  plant  good 
fruit.  But  every  plant  that  does  not  bring  forth 
good  fruit  is  cut  to  pieces  and  thrown  in  the  fire  ". 
The  spiritual  life  follows  the  analogy  of  the  natural 
life  both  in  origin  and  method.  "  For  as  the  Fatlier 
quickencth  the  dead  and  maketh  them  living,  so  the 
Son  quickeneth  whom  he  will.     He  that  hearkeneth 


JESUS'  TEACHING  J41 

unto  my  word,  and  hath  confidence  m  him  that  sent 
me,  hath  aeonian  life  and  moveth  not  to  destruction, 
but  hath  passed  out  of  the  dead  into  the  living. 
I  declare  unto  you  that  if  a  man  keep  my  saying 
he  shall  never  see  death.  Leave  the  dead  to  bury 
their  dead,  and  follow  after  me  ".  He  insists  that 
this  higher  and  more  enduring  life  ought  to  be 
achieved  at  any  cost.  "  For  what  will  it  profit  a  man 
if  he  gain  the  whole  world  and  fall  short  (Irjfuoo)) 
of  his  soul?  Or  what  shall  a  man  get  in  exchange 
for  his  soul?  If  thy  right  eye  or  thy  right  hand 
should  be  in  the  way,  pluck  it  out,  cut  it  off,  for 
it  is  better  that  one  of  thy  members  should  perish 
than  that  thy  whole  body  should  be  thrown  away  ". 
These  quotations  should  suffice  to  show  his  teach- 
ing. All  the  others  are  variations  upon  the  same 
theme.  He  makes  his  appeal  to  the  instinct  of  liv- 
ing. If  you  do  thus  and  thus,  following  in  my  steps, 
you  can  secure  for  yourself  a  life  so  prepotent  that 
what  you  call  death  cannot  ruin  it.  Blessed  are  the 
meek,  the  pure  in  heart,  the  unselfish,  for  the  new 
kingdom  belongs  to  them.  If  you  devote  your  ener- 
gies to  building  up  your  lower  life,  you  will  lose 
everything,  because  it  comes  to  an  end,  but  if  you 
disregard  it  in  the  interest  of  my  eternal  gospel  of 
goodness,  you  will  find  an  aeonian  life.  What  is  all 
this  but  the  annunciation  of  the  last  term  in  the 
long  series  of  organic  evolution.  And  is  it  not 
supremely  trustworthy  as  being  the  dictum  of  "  the 
Man  most  man  "  ? 


142  CHRISTIANITY 

No  doubt  the  question  will  arise,  If  this  is  actu- 
ally the  teaching  of  Jesus,  how  comes  it  that  he  has 
been  so  long  and  so  persistently  misconceived?  If 
the  teaching  of  Jesus  was  biological,  how  has  it  come 
to  be  thought  of  as  legal?  If  his  distinction  was 
between  a  perishable  and  an  abiding  life  under  con- 
ditions now  existing,  why  has  it  been  construed  to 
refer  to  the  contrast  between  happiness  and  agony 
in  a  future  life,  to  which  all  men  are  destined  in  any 
case.  It  may  be  replied  that,  at  any  rate,  he  was 
not  misunderstood  by  his  Apostles  and  earliest  in- 
terpreters. 


THE  FIRST  TO  CROSS 


"  Sleep'st  thou  indeed?  or  is  Thy  spirit  fled 
At  large  among  the  dead? 
Whether  in  Eden's  bowers  Thy  welcome  voice 
Wake  Abraham  to  rejoice. 
Or  in  some  drearier  scene  Thine  eye  controls 
The  thronging  band   of   souls; 
That,  as  Thy  blood  won  earth,  Thine  agony 
Might  set  the  shadowy  realm  from  sorrow  free  ". 

— Keble. 


IX 

THE  FIRST  TO  CROSS 

The  earliest  writings  in  which  the  name  of  Jesus 
appears  were  written  from  thirty  to  fifty  years  after 
his  death.  None  of  these  are  reasoned  and  formu- 
lated statements  of  belief.  They  consist  chiefly  of 
certain  letters  which  have  survived  from  the  cor- 
respondence carried  on  between  some  of  his  followers. 
This  correspondence  is  often  of  an  intimate  and 
personal  character,  sometimes  it  is  letters  written 
by  a  prominent  man  to  a  club  or  group  of  Chris- 
tians, to  be  read  by  them  and  passed  on  to  other 
groups.  In  such  composition  we  cannot  expect  to 
find  any  very  definite  or  precise  statements  of  doc- 
trine. They  bear  much  the  same  relation  to  Chris- 
tianity as  do,  for  example,  the  familiar  correspond- 
ence of  Huxley  and  Gray  and  Darwin  to  the  doctrine 
of  Evolution.  In  such  a  case  it  is  not  so  much 
what  the  writers  say  as  what  they  take  for  granted 
that  enables  one  to  see  their  real  position.  With 
the  exception  of  the  Fourth  Gospel  and  the  Apoca- 
lypse it  may  be  assumed  that  the  whole  New  Testa- 
ment was  written  within  fifty  years  after  the  death 
of  Jesus.  Now,  the  question  is,  do  these  writings 
take  for  granted  the  indestructibility  of  the  soul,  and 

145 


146  CHRISTIANITY 

the  natural  immortality  of  all  men?  There  is  no 
doubt  of  the  answer;  they  do  not.  Moreover,  such 
an  assumption  makes  their  arguments  in  many  cases 
unintelligible,  and  in  not  a  few  renders  them  worth- 
less. 

In  general,  it  may  be  said  without  hesitation,  the 
New  Testament  continues  the  same  biological  theme 
around  which  the  teaching  of  Jesus  revolved.  Their 
arguments  do  not  start,  however,  as  his  do,  from 
the  facts  of  being,  but  from  the  fact  of  his  resurrec- 
tion. But  their  assumptions  are  the  same  as  his. 
The  earliest  of  the  books  of  the  New  Testament 
are  two  letters  written  by  St.  Paul  to  a  little  group 
of  converts  which  he  had  made  some  years  pre- 
viously at  Thessalonica.  At  the  time  when  he  wrote 
it  was  generally  expected  by  the  Christians  that 
Jesus'  plan  was  to  reappear  while  his  friends  still 
lived,  gather  them  out  of  the  world,  and  then  make 
an  end  of  all  things,  to  reconstruct  the  earth  and 
open  a  new  regime.  They  believed  the  fact  of  his 
resurrection,  but  they  had  not  come  to  see  the  place 
of  that  fact  in  the  economy  of  life.  This  expecta- 
tion of  the  early  end  of  the  world  colors  all  the 
earlier  New  Testament  writings.  It  was  a  naive 
error  which  only  death  and  the  passing  of  the  years 
could  correct.  They  felt  that  they  had  come  in- 
dividually into  the  possession  of  a  life  of  such  quality 
that  it  would  endure,  but  they  saw  at  the  same  time 
that  they  were  growing  old  physically.  It  came  to 
the  knowledge  of  Paul  that  his  Thessalonian  con- 


THE  FIRST  TO  CROSS  147 

verts,  whose  expectation  was  the  same  as  his  own, 
were  disturbed  and  perplexed  because  some  of  their 
number  who  w^ith  them  had  been  waiting  for  the 
Lord's  coming,  had  fallen  asleep.  Had  they,  in 
consequence,  missed  the  immortality  which  they  ex- 
pected? Paul  thereupon  writes  to  reassure  them. 
What  he  says  and  what  he  does  not  say  are  equally 
noteworthy.  He  has  nothing  to  say  to  them  about 
universal  resurrection  and  immortality.  He  writes: 
"  I  would  not  have  you  to  doubt  concerning  them 
that  have  fallen  asleep,  or  that  you  should  sorrow 
as  do  other  people,  who  have  no  hope  for  the  dead. 
For  as  w^e  believe  that  Jesus  died  and  rose  again, 
so  also  we  believe  that  God  will  bring  back  with  him 
them  that  have  fallen  asleep  in  him.  I  assure  you, 
in  God's  truth,  that  we  who  may  be  alive  at  the 
Lord's  coming,  will  not  have  any  advantage  over 
them  that  have  fallen  asleep.  For  the  Lord  shall 
descend  from  heaven  with  the  voice  of  the  archangel 
and  with  the  trump  of  God ;  and  first  the  dead  in 
Christ  shall  rise ;  and  then  we  that  are  alive,  together 
with  them,  shall  be  caught  up  in  the  clouds  to  meet 
the  Lord  in  the  air  ".  Lie  was  still  of  the  same 
opinion  when  he  wrote  the  Thessalonians  his  second 
letter ;  but  as  the  years  went  on,  and  the  real  sig- 
nificance of  Jesus'  resurrection  came  to  be  better  com- 
prehended, he  came  to  think  of  the  new  life  less  and 
less  in  connection  with  any  great  cosmic  cataclysm, 
and  more  and  more  as  the  manifestation  of  a  supreme 
vital  force  which  would  continue  to  operate  accord- 


148  CHRISTIANITY 

ing  to  its  own  laws  to  the  end  of  the  ages.  His 
matured  behef  is  expressed  in  that  divine  classic 
which  for  twenty  centuries  has  been  read  by  Christian 
charity  over  the  dead  bodies  of  saints  and  sinners 
alike,  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  his  first  letter  to  the 
Corinthians.  It  is  a  marvellous  construction  of 
faith,  science,  poetry,  and  high  aspiration.  But  it 
concerns  itself  solely  with  the  "  dead  in  Christ ". 
The  "  natural  man  "  is  left  outside  its  conclusions 
in  express  terms.  If  any  one  question  this,  let  him 
read  it;  but  let  him  read  it  all.  When  he  has  read 
that  "  as  in  Adam  all  die,  so  also  in  Christ  shall  be 
made  alive  ",  let  him  read  on,  "  but  each  in  his  own 
order,  Christ  the  first  fruits,  then  they  that  are 
Christ's ;  and  that  is  the  end  ".  The  drama  is  closed 
and  the  stage  cleared  before  the  "  natural "  man 
has  any  standing  upon  it. 

"  That  which  is  natural  comes  first,  then  that  which  is 
spiritual.  The  first  man  is  of  the  earth,  earthen;  the  second 
man  is  of  heaven.  As  is  the  earthen,  such  are  they  also  that 
are  earthen;  and  as  is  the  heavenly,  such  are  they  that  are 
heavenly.  As  we  have  borne  the  image  of  the  earthly,  we 
shall  also  bear  the  image  of  the  heavenly.  For  I  declare 
this,  brethren,  that  flesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom 
of  God;  neither  doth  corruption  inherit  incorruption  ". 

I  am  well  aware  that  all  this  may  seem  to  some 
to  be  an  unwarrantable  attempt  to  read  into  St. 
Paul's  words  a  meaning  which  they  will  not  bear. 
I  can  only  urge  that  this  seems  to  me  to  be  the 
obvious  and  natural  meaning,  and  the  only  meaning 


THE  FIRST  TO  CROSS  149 

which  those  to  whom  the  letter  was  written  could 
have  found  in  it.  And  this  conviction  is  established 
by  the  fact  that  this  meaning  squares  with  the  fun- 
damental biological  purpose  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ. 
The  quintessence  of  the  matter  is  that  life  in  its 
supreme  phrase  conforms  to  the  law  of  life  in  all 
its  stages.  It  is  a  thing  to  be  achieved.  At  every 
step  there  are  a  thousand  candidates  who  fail  for 
every  one  who  attains.  Those  who  do  attain  remain 
in  possession  while  they  fulfil  the  conditions  in  the 
order  where  they  are.  Except  a  molecule  of  matter 
be  born  from  above  it  cannot  enter  into  life.  Except 
the  living  animal  be  born  from  above  it  cannot  be- 
come man.  Except  a  man  be  born  from  above  he 
cannot  enter  into  the  new  kingdom.  That  is  not 
first  which  is  natural,  but  that  which  is  spiritual. 

The  later  books  of  the  New  Testament,  such  as  the 
Revelation  of  St.  John  and  the  apocalyptic  portion 
of  the  Gospel  of  Matthew,  throw  little  direct  light 
upon  the  subject.  While  it  is  true  that  they  con- 
cern themselves  with  the  "  last  things  ",  it  is  also 
true  that  they  wrote  in  a  manner  which  was  not 
intended  to  be  taken  for  the  face  of  it.  The  Apoca- 
l3^pse  is  obscure  because  it  was  meant  to  be  obscure. 
The  writers  put  in  cryptogram  things  which  it  was 
not  safe  for  Christians  to  discuss  openly.  No  doubt 
it  was  intelligible  to  those  to  whom  it  was  addressed, 
but  the  key  has  long  since  been  lost.  But  it  is  prob- 
able that  the  book  of  Revelation,  colored  by  the 
gorgeous   but   fine   frenzied   imaginations    of   Dante 


150  CHRISTIANITY 

and  Milton,  have  done  more  than  anything  else  to 
fix  the  popular  notions  concerning  resurrection  and 
the  future  life.  The  misfortune  is  that  poetry  has 
been  mistaken  for  revelation  and  imagery  for  reality. 
But  however  firmly  these  Oriental  pictures  may  be 
fixed  in  the  popular  mind,  their  reality  has  never 
been  accepted  as  a  part  of  the  Christian  faith.  The 
Creed  is  content  with  saying  that  we  "  believe  in  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead,  and  the  life  of  the  world 
to  come  ".  No  public  creed  earlier  than  the  fourth 
century  contains  the  clause,  "  the  resurrection  of  the 
body  ". 

The  dramatic  framework  in  which  all  this  is  set 
in  apocalyptic  scripture  may  be  helpful  or  may  be 
confusing  just  in  proportion  as  one  is  or  is  not 
able  to  discriminate  between  the  truth  and  the 
imagery.  No  end  of  error  has  been  caused  by  con- 
fusing the  one  with  the  other.  From  this  has  come 
that  series  of  mental  pictures  of  universal  death; 
an  underworld  wherein  all  souls  as  phantoms  wait 
through  the  ages ;  a  spectacular  Judgment ;  a  pro- 
cession of  redeemed  to  Elysium,  and  of  condemned 
to  Tartarus.  Unless  one's  thought  can  escape  from 
out  this  Dore  gallery  altogether,  it  will  seek  in  vain 
for  a  reasonable  as  well  as  rehgious  and  holy  hope 
of  life  beyond. 

If,  however,  this  "  way  to  immortality  "  be  but 
the  extension  of  the  path  of  life  which  we  may  trace 
upward  through  nature,  what  specific  and  essential 
connection  has  it  with  Jesus  of  Nazareth? 


THE  FIRST  TO  CROSS  151 

Birds  which  are  born  and  bred  in  subarctic  regions 
must  perish  unless  they  become  able,  at  the  proper 
time,  to  cross  land  and  sea  to  a  summer  clime. 
Whether  one  of  them  shall  be  able  to  do  this,  de- 
pends upon  its  growth  of  wing,  its  instinct  of  direc- 
tion, and  its  strength  to  sustain  flight.  Between 
the  one  who  can  and  the  one  who  cannot  is  a  differ- 
ence of  a  few  millimeters'  length  of  pinion  and  a  few 
grains,  more  or  less,  of  nourishment.  The  transit 
for  the  individual  man  from  the  present  stage  of 
being  to  the  one  which  lies  beyond  we  believe  to  be 
a  question  of  the  vigor  of  moral  personality.  Is 
there  any  reason  to  believe  that  the  passage  has 
ever  been  effected  ?  A  single  instance  would  be  worth 
volumes  of  argument.  It  would  bring  the  whole 
matter  out  of  the  abstract  into  the  concrete.  More- 
over, it  would  transform  the  lives  of  all  those  to 
whom  such  information  might  come.  If  we  could 
find  one  single  case  of  a  man  having  passed  through 
corporeal  death,  and  having  thereafter  shown  to  liv- 
ing man  by  word  or  sight  or  speech  that  he  is  the 
same  one  who  died,  it  would  revolutionize  human  life. 
Above  all,  if  he  should  give  an  intelligible  account, 
not  of  where  he  has  gone  to,  but  of  how  he  got 
there,  the  riddle  of  the  universe  would  be  read.  It 
would  be  as  though  some  one  had  found  a  practica- 
ble ford  across  an  encompassing  river  which  had  al- 
ways been  thought  impassable.  It  would  change  the 
whole  temper  and  manner  of  life  of  those  who  live 
this  side.     It  would  bring  hope  concerning  the  fate 


152  CHRISTIANITY 

of  that  multitude  who  had  essayed  the  same  crossing, 
and  had  seemed  to  have  been  drowned. 

There  are  now  living  several  hundred  millions  of 
people  who  believe  such  a  crossing  to  have  been  made. 
They  believe  that  it  occurred  two  thousand  years 
ago,  sometime  between  a  Friday  evening  and  a  Sun- 
day morning,  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  and  that  the 
man's  name  was  Jesus.  I  understand  quite  well  how 
the  scientific  man  and  the  student  of  evidences  may 
feel  like  turning  away  with  impatience  at  the  mere 
suggestion.  The  event  is  so  remote,  the  direct  evi- 
dence so  scanty,  the  event  so  incredible,  that  busy 
men  cannot  be  expected  to  take  it  seriously.  Maybe 
so.  It  is  more  than  likely  that  a  very  moderate 
cross-examination  would  break  down  every  witness, 
and  would  show  contradiction  in  the  testimony.  But 
still  the  fact  remains  that  millions  of  people  have 
believed  and  do  believe  it  to  have  been  a  real  occur- 
rence. These  are  also  people  whose  average  intelli- 
gence is,  upon  the  whole,  higher  than  that  of  any 
equal  number  of  people  in  the  world.  No  like  num- 
ber approach  them  in  moral  earnestness  or  in  gen- 
eral truthfulness.  If  it  be  objected  that  their  be- 
lief in  the  alleged  reappearance  of  Jesus  after  his 
death  is  only  an  article  of  faith  which  they  receive 
after  they  have  on  other  grounds  become  Christians, 
then  the  question  arises,  What  accounts  for  Chris- 
tianity.'' The  world  in  Jesus'  time  did  not  look  for 
a  future  life  of  the  individual;  to-day  it  looks  for 
it   even    more    universally    than    the    facts    warrant. 


THE  FIRST  TO  CROSS  153 

What  has  caused  the  change?  The  cause  is  so  evi- 
dent that  no  student  of  history  questions  it.  It  is 
due  to  the  assured  conviction  of  friends  of  Jesus 
that  they  saw  him  in  his  own  person  after  his  death. 
It  is  conceivable  that  they  were  mistaken.  But  in 
that  case  we  have  that  stupendous  fabric  which  we 
call  Christianity,  that  complex  structure  of  morals, 
social  order,  political  energy,  and  religious  power, 
resting  upon  nothing.  Now,  there  is  such  a  thing 
as  a  credulity  of  scepticism  as  well  as  a  credulity  of 
faith.  The  sensible  man  tries  to  avoid  both,  to  look 
at  things  as  they  are,  and  in  any  case  to  accept 
the  explanation  which  best  explains. 

Let  it  be  well  understood  right  here  that  the 
question  involved  is  not  of  the  "  supernatural "  as 
opposed  to  the  "  natural  ".  If  Jesus  survived  his 
own  death  it  was  because  it  was  natural  for  him 
and  such  as  he  to  do  so.  The  antithesis  of  natural 
and  supernatural  is  a  mere  imagination.  The  only 
true  classification  is  the  real  and  the  unreal.  What- 
ever is  real  is  natural,  for  whenever  its  reality  is 
established  the  definition  of  nature  must  be  extended 
to  include  it. 

Assuming  the  story  of  the  Gospels  to  be  honest — 
and  no  one  doubts  the  honesty — it  is  clear  that  be- 
tween five  hundred  and  a  thousand  of  Jesus'  friends 
who  knew  him  in  life  believed  that  they  had  seen 
him  again  after  his  death.  It  must  be  acknowledged 
that  the  accounts  are  confused  and  in  details  con- 
tradictory, but  in  essentials  they  are  clear  enough. 


154  CHRISTIANITY 

The  disciples  were  not  looking  for  his  reappearance, 
and  were  very  slow  to  believe  it  when  it  occurred. 
They  had  thought  this  was  he  who  should  redeem 
Israel,  but  he  had  died,  and  their  dream  was  at  an 
end.  Then  something  happened,  suddenly,  which 
changed  the  whole  situation  for  them  and  in  con- 
sequence changed  their  whole  lives.  What  was  it 
that  did  happen?  The  vulgar  answer  is, — the  dead 
body  of  Jesus  came  to  life  again,  and  their  senses 
convinced  them  of  the  fact.  But  this  is  not  the 
impression  which  the  story  gives  when  it  is  candidly 
examined.  It  is  very  curious  that  in  every  case 
the  person  to  whom  Jesus  reappeared  failed  at  first 
to  recognize  him.  This  was  true  of  the  two  Marys, 
of  the  two  disciples  on  the  road  to  Emmaus,  the  com- 
pany in  the  upper  room,  and  of  all.  "  When  they 
saw  him  they  worshipped,  but  some  were  sceptical  ". 
It  is  plain,  however,  that  they  had  an  experience 
of  some  kind  which  convinced  them  of  his  identity. 
Now,  assuming,  as  we  must,  that  the  story  is  an 
honest  one,  it  is  a  passing  strange  one.  If  it  were 
told  of  an  ordinary  man,  we  could  only  look  at  it 
a  little  for  its  curiosity,  and  then  dismiss  it.  Two 
considerations,  however,  preclude  us  from  dealing 
with  it  after  tliis  rough  and  ready  fashion.  The 
first  is  that  it  is  related  to  the  previous  life  of  a 
personality  which  is  altogether  remarkable.  The 
second  is  that  it  has  wrought  such  momentous  results 
in  the  course  of  human  history.  The  story  is  the 
essential  element  of  the  Christian  Gospel.     Remov- 


THE  FIRST  TO  CROSS  155 

ing  this  eviscerates  it.  St  Paul  says  plainly  that 
if  his  Gospel  should  break  down  at  this  point  it 
would  be  worthless.  Even  though  Jesus  might  have 
lived  and  taught  and  suffered  and  died  as  he  did, 
"  if  he  be  not  risen  again  your  faith  is  vain  ".  His 
argument  was  that  the  man  Jesus  had  definitely 
realized  the  process  whereby  a  human  being  might 
attain  to  the  possession  of  a  psychical  life  so  exalted 
in  quality  and  so  tenacious  in  substance  that  cor- 
poreal death  could  not  break  it  down ;  that  he  had 
achieved  this  for  himself  at  an  incalculable  cost ;  that 
he  had  passed  through  death  and  conquered  it,  "  hav- 
ing shown  himself  alive  by  many  infallible  proofs  " ; 
and  that  he  had  become  a  kind  of  first  fruits  of  a 
human  harvest,  which  might  be  great  or  scanty  as 
the  event  should  prove.  The  primitive  appeal  of 
the  Gospel  was  to  the  supreme  aspiration  of  all 
organized  creatures,  the  "  lust  of  living ".  This 
appeal  is  incalculably  more  potent  than  the  one  now 
commonly  addressed  to  the  love  of  happiness  or  the 
fear  of  misery.  It  explains  at  once  the  eager  wel- 
come given  to  the  Gospel  in  the  early  ages  and  the 
languid  acceptance  accorded  to  it  now.  No  wonder 
Paul  accounted  all  things  "  but  dung  that  he  might 
know  Christ  and  the  power  of  his  resurrection  and 
attain  unto  the  resurrection  of  the  dead ".  And 
little  wonder  that  men  to-day  who  have  fallen  into 
the  way  of  thinking  that  they  are  immortal  anyway, 
will  snatch  at  the  pleasures  of  the  life  that  now 
is,  and  trust  to   good  fortune   to  escape   any  very 


156  CHRISTIANITY 

intolerable  misery  in  that  which  is  to  come.  But  if 
it  be  true  that  the  stake  at  issue  is  not  either  the 
pleasure  or  the  pain  of  life,  but  life  itself,  the  situa- 
tion becomes  more  tragic. 

At  this  point  we  come  to  face  a  very  obstinate  diffi- 
culty. In  the  continent  of  human  history  Christian- 
ity occupies  but  an  insignificant  space.  It  covers 
but  two  score  out  of  the  centuries  of  human  progres- 
sion. Those  who  ever  did  or  ever  could  have  heard 
of  our  Master  are  but  an  infinitesimal  fraction  of 
that  mighty  host  of  human  beings  who  have  ap- 
peared upon  and  passed  off  the  world's  stage.  A 
means  of  attaining  immortality,  therefore,  which 
could  only  be  available  after  a  certain  date  A.  U.  C, 
and  within  a  certain  geographical  area,  could  be 
only  a  mockery.  It  would  be  like  a  zoology  whose 
laws  would  only  hold  within  a  thiergarten  and  be 
inapplicable  to  the  beasts  of  the  field.  It  would  be 
little  to  call  such  a  doctrine  absurd,  when  we  might 
justly  characterize  it  as  profoundly  immoral.  We 
are  in  search  of  a  bridge  by  which  it  may  be  possible 
for  individuals  to  pass  from  this  present  life  to 
another.  Common  equity  demands  that  the  hither 
end  of  the  bridge  should  be  placed  within  the  reach 
of  the  first  man  who  could  walk  and  who  wished  to 
cross.  We  cannot  worthily  imagine  that  the  great 
Architect  should  either  have  postponed  its  construc- 
tion until  countless  generations  should  have  perished 
on  this  side  the  flood,  or  that  he  should  have  placed 
it  where  it  would  be  only  available  for  an  elect  few. 


THE  FIRST  TO  CROSS  157 

Let  the  conditions  of  eternal  life  be  as  inexorable  as 
they  may  prove  to  be.  We  are  familiar  with  that 
necessity  at  every  stage  of  the  organic  movement. 
No  one  will  gainsay  a  rigid  selection  of  the  individuals 
who  live  out  of  the  multitudes  who  perish.  But  the 
one  thing  which  the  moral  sense  demands  is  that  this 
selection  shall  be  a  natural  and  not  an  arbitrary 
one.  Time  was  when  devout  men  denounced  the 
phrase  "  natural  selection  "  because  they  fancied  it 
circumscribed  the  action  of  God's  intelligence.  They 
did  not  realize  the  unspeakable  relief  it  brings  to  a 
belief  in  God's  righteousness.  Even  the  gift  of  eter- 
nal life  might  scarcely  be  accepted  at  his  hands  if 
it  came  tainted  with  favoritism.  "  Whom  he  would 
he  slew,  and  whom  he  would  he  kept  alive  ",  may 
serve  as  the  conception  of  God's  character  current 
at  the  court  of  Belshazzar,  but  the  moral  sense  of 
to-day  can  only  conceive  thus  of  Baal. 

But  are  we  not  bound  to  hold  that  "  there  is 
none  other  name  given  under  heaven  among  men 
whereby  they  may  be  saved  but  the  name  of  the 
anointed  Jesus  "  ?  No  doubt ;  but  this  fact  has  wide 
implications  which  are  seldom  realized.  If  eternal 
life  be  in  any  actual  way  correlated  with  the  Divine 
Man  whom  we  adore,  it  must  be  in  some  way  superior 
to  times  and  dates  and  missionaries.  If  the  Christ 
be  the  Son  of  Man  to  any  effectual  purpose,  it  can 
only  be  because  he  represents  some  force  which  is 
available  under  the  same  conditions  to  all  men  at 
all  times.     The  "  Life  of  the  World  "  must  be  able 


158  CHRISTIANITY 

and  ready  to  flow  at  any  time  and  place  where  a 
physical  organism  is  ready  to  receive  it.  The  Divin- 
ity of  Christ  is  an  infinitely  larger  thing  than  the 
theologians  know.  Their  schemes  of  "  atonement  " 
give  us  little  or  no  help.  They  are  all  hopelessly 
artificial  and  unreal.  They  all  attempt  to  state  the 
function  of  the  Christ  in  terms  of  Hebrew  sacrifice 
and  Roman  law.  One  could  as  well  construct  a 
zoology  in  the  same  terms.  Christian  thought  has 
been  bewildered  and  Christian  instinct  wellnigh  de- 
feated by  the  centuries  of  logically  coherent  but 
empty  systems  of  doctrine  concerning  the  work  of 
Christ.  His  terms  are  biological;  theirs  are  legal. 
It  may  be  ages  yet  before  we  recover  from  the  mis- 
fortune of  having  had  the  truth  of  Christ  interpreted 
and  fixed  by  jurists  and  logicians  instead  of  by 
naturalists  and  men  of  science.  It  is  much  as 
though  the  rationale  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood 
had  been  described  by  Sir  Matthew  Hale,  or  the 
germ  theory  of  disease  interpreted  by  Blackstone, 
or  the  doctrine  of  evolution  formulated  by  a  legisla- 
tive council.  Religious  thought  is  everywhere  striv- 
ing to  escape  from  the  dreary  fortress  of  law  to  the 
open  world  of  nature.  I  venture  to  think  that  Dar- 
win and  the  martyrs  of  science  have  done  more  to 
make  the  words  of  Christ  intelligible  than  have 
Athanasius  and  the  theologians.  It  is  little  less  than 
marvellous,  the  way  in  which  the  words  of  Jesus  fit 
in  with  the  forms  of  thought  which  are  to-day  cur- 
rent.    They  are  life,  generation,  survival  of  the  fit, 


THE  FIRST  TO  CROSS  159 

tree  and  fruit,  multiplication  by  cell  growth  as 
leaven,  operation  by  chemical  contact  as  salt,  dying 
of  the  lonely  seed  to  produce  much  fruit,  imposition 
of  a  higher  form  of  life  upon  a  lower  by  being  born 
from  above,  grafting  a  new  scion  upon  a  wild  stock, 
the  phenomena  of  plant  growth  from  the  seed  through 
the  blade  and  the  ear  to  the  matured  grain,  and, 
finally,  the  attainment  of  an  individual  life  which 
is  eternal.  The  claim  made  for  the  Son  of  Man 
is  that  he  has  to  do  with  this  vital  process  in  a  vital 
fashion  from  the  beginning  of  the  ages  to  the  end 
of  them.  This  claim  may  or  may  not  be  more 
difficult  for  thoughtful  men  to  admit  than  the  claim 
that  he  wrought  out  a  means  of  legal  escape  for  a 
chosen  few  from  a  judicial  sentence.  But  whatever 
difficulty  does  attach  to  it  is  an  intellectual  and  not 
an  ethical  one. 


BODIES  CELESTIAL 


"  The  great  significance  of  the  individual  man  fairly 
raises  the  presumption  that  his  place  in  Nature  has  a 
meaning  that  is  not  to  be  measured  by  the  length  of  his 
life  in  the  body.  Looking,  as  we  must  do,  for  a  purpose 
that  justifies  to  our  understanding  all  this  doing  of  Na- 
ture, is  it  not  reasonable  to  suppose  that  one  at  least 
of  these  purposes  is  attained  in  the  creation  of  these 
personalities?  And  may  we  not  fairly  regard  these 
persons  as  containing  and  preserving  the  permanent 
gain  which  comes  from  the  work  of  the  visible  uni- 
verse "  ? — Shaler,    "  The    Individual  ". 


X 

BODIES  CELESTIAL 

So  far  as  we  can  see,  a  living  personality  without 
a  body  is  impossible ;  a  "  disembodied  spirit  "  is  un- 
thinkable. This  is  why  the  question  of  the  "  resur- 
rection of  the  dead  "  becomes  of  such  supreme  im- 
portance. The  contribution  which  Christianity  has 
made  to  belief  in  a  future  life  is  bound  up  with 
material  quite  as  much  as  spiritual  phenomena. 
People  had  for  ages  before  Christ  a  notion  of  some 
kind  of  a  nebulous  and  phantasmal  survival  of  the 
personality,  but  the  belief  was  at  its  best  practically 
inoperative.  A  spirit  with  no  material  organ  for 
expressing  itself  puts  to  confusion  all  our  concep- 
tions of  what  a  human  being  is.  The  body  is  just 
as  essential  a  component  part  of  our  idea  of  a  man 
as  the  soul  is.  It  is  just  as  easy  to  think  of  the 
body  becoming  immortal  without  a  soul  as  of  the 
soul  being  immortal  without  a  body.  This  is  why 
the  physiologist  finds  it  so  difficult  to  believe  in 
the  immortality  of  the  soul.  It  is  only  because  he 
sees  more  clearly  than  other  men  do  the  constant 
and  essential  interdependence  of  soul  and  body.  The 
ground  of  his  scepticism  is  sound.  There  is  no 
known  form  of  energy  separate  from  matter.     The 

163 


164.  CHRISTIANITY 

soul  cannot  flit  across  the  river  naked.  Nor  is  it 
any  relief  to  think  of  it  as  existing  even  temporarily 
in  a  quiescent  state  while  waiting  for  a  resurrected 
body.  It  cannot  wait.  An  individual  life  must  be 
continuous  or  else  not  be  at  all.  It  cannot  stop  and 
go  on  again.  The  Easter  images  of  the  egg  and  the 
butterfly  will  not  bear  examination.  The  caterpillar, 
the  imago,  and  the  butterfly  are  all  included  in  one 
cycle,  to  be  sure,  but  the  continuity  of  the  individual 
is  broken  at  each  stage  of  the  progression,  and  the 
cycle  when  completed  returns  upon  itself.  It  goes 
nowhere.  What  we  are  in  search  of  is  a  continuous 
life  of  the  individual.  To  this  end  St.  Paul  affirms 
that  there  is  a  natural  body  and  there  is  a  spiritual 
body.  If  so,  where  is  it. ^  How  does  it  grow .^^  What 
are  its  qualities.^  What  is  its  relation  to  what  we 
call  matter.?  What  reason  has  the  Apostle  for  mak- 
ing his  assertion.?  His  reason  is  obvious;  he  asserts 
that  there  is  a  "  spiritual "  body  because  he  has 
seen  one. 

The  nature  of  Jesus'  reappearance  may  be  exam- 
ined without  irreverence  because  we  are  so  deeply 
concerned  to  know  the  facts  and  their  significance. 
The  Gospels  represent  the  risen  Christ  as  a  living 
man  like  other  men,  and  at  the  same  time  strangely 
unlike,  and  they  make  no  attempt  to  adjust  the  con- 
tradiction. He  is  independent  of  the  laws  of  mat- 
ter, and  at  the  same  time  he  conforms  to  some  of 
them.  He  suddenly  appears  in  a  lighted  room  whose 
doors  remain  locked,  but  at  the  same  time  they  think 


BODIES  CELESTIAL  165 

they  see  him  eat  and  drink.  Again,  he  communi- 
cates with  them  by  means  of  some  kind  of  spoken 
language,  but  at  the  same  time  is  invisible.  They 
see  him  and  take  him  for  a  stranger,  but  the  next 
moment  they  recognize  him.  We  seem,  in  a  word, 
to  be  in  the  presence  of  something  which  is  both 
material  and  immaterial,  something  which  is  cogniza- 
ble by  the  senses,  and  which  at  the  same  time  plays 
fast  and  loose  with  sense  perceptions.  There  would 
seem  to  be  only  two  reasonable  attitudes  toward  the 
story  open  to  us.  Either  we  may  dismiss  it  as  an 
Oriental  fantasy,  or  we  must  extend  our  definitions 
of  nature  to  include  its  phenomena.  Of  course  one 
may,  if  he  so  please,  look  at  it  from  a  distance  as 
a  sacred  region  into  which  curiosity  dare  not  enter 
and  where  faith  alone  is  admissible.  But  there  is 
such  a  thing  as  sitting  down  at  the  entrance  of  a 
holy  ground  under  pretence  of  putting  off  one's 
shoes,  while  the  real  motive  is  indolence  or  fear.  If 
the  phenomena  under  consideration  are  facts  at  all, 
they  are  facts  which  are  meant  for  use.  We  may 
rightly  "  have  boldness  to  enter  into  the  holiest, 
by  a  new  and  living  way  which  he  hath  consecrated 
for  us  through  the  veil,  that  is  to  say  his  flesh  ". 

The  most  significant  feat  which  modern  science  has 
accomplished  has  been  to  establish  the  existence  of 
that  strange  substance  known  as  interstellar  ether. 
Its  existence  had  long  been  suspected,  now  it  is 
known.  Sir  Isaac  Newton  closes  his  "  Principia " 
with  this  prophetic  paragraph: — 


166  CHRISTIANITY 

"And  now  we  might  add  something  concerning  a  most 
subtle  spirit  which  pervades  and  lies  hid  in  all  gross  bodies; 
by  the  force  and  attraction  of  which  spirit  the  particles  of 
bodies  mutually  attract  one  another,  and  electric  bodies  sepa- 
rate, and  light  is  emitted,  and  all  sensation  is  excited,  and 
the  members  of  animal  bodies  move  at  the  command  of  the 
will  by  vibrations  of  this  spirit  propagated  along  the  solid 
filaments  of  the  nerves.  But  these  things  cannot  be  explained 
in  a  few  words,  nor  are  we  furnished  with  that  sufficiency 
of  experiments  necessary  to  an  accurate  determination  and 
demonstration  of  the  laws  by  which  this  subtle  spirit  operates  ". 


Now,  this  "  subtle  spirit  "  of  Sir  Isaac  has  been 
shown  to  be  not  spirit  at  all,  but  a  material  medium 
which  fills  all  space  and  interpenetrates  all  matter. 
The  result  has  rendered  necessary  a  new  definition 
of  Matter.  Extension,  ponderability,  form,  dimen- 
sion, and  such  qualities  are  no  longer  sufficient  to 
define  it.  "  Empty  "  space  can  no  longer  be  spoken 
of,  for  no  portion  of  space  is  empty.  It  can  no 
longer  be  said  that  "  no  two  portions  of  matter  can 
occupy  the  same  space  at  the  same  time  ".  Indeed, 
it  seems  to  be  the  very  condition  of  existence  of  the 
matter  which  we  see  that  it  should  lie  bathed  in  a 
matter  which  we  do  not  see.  For  this  universal 
ether  is  matter.  It  shows  some  of  the  properties 
of  a  most  tenuous  fluid,  in  other  respects  it  acts  as 
an  infinitely  dense  solid,  and  in  still  others  as  jelly. 
It  is  the  material  medium  through  which  light,  elec- 
tricity, and  radiant  energy  are  conducted  by  waves 
of  differing  length,  and  probably  what  we  call  grav- 
itation   also.     Its    waves    flow    throucjh    the    densest 


BODIES  CELESTIAL  167 

material  known  like  water  through  a  sieve.  It  ap- 
pears, indeed,  to  be  the  instrument  in  and  through 
which  all  the  elemental  forces,  light,  heat,  electricity, 
chemical  energy,  do  their  work.  May  not  vital 
energy  be  concerned  with  it  as  well? 

It  is  not  easy  to  understand  why  the  physicists 
are  so  reluctant  to  admit  the  objective  existence  of 
such  a  force  as  "  Vital  Energy  ".  Surely  there  are 
abundant  phenomena  which  cannot  be  classified  under 
any  other  form  of  energy  known.  Allowing  that  the 
phrase  is  only  a  name  for  a  set  of  phenomena  whose 
essential  nature  is  not  understood,  that  much  may 
also  be  said  of  all  the  other  categories  of  energy. 

Each  thought  we  think,  each  emotion  we  feel,  is 
associated  with  molecular  changes  and  rearrange- 
ments in  the  brain.  But  this  material  fabric  of 
thought  is  every  moment  disintegrating,  and  at  death 
falls  into  ruin.  Now,  suppose  that  before  that  ruin 
befalls,  the  soul  shall  have  been  able  to  build  up 
of  some  more  enduring  substance,  as  it  were,  a  brain 
within  the  brain,  a  body  within  the  body,  something 
like  that  which  the  Orientals  have  for  ages  spoken 
of  as  the  Astral  Body.  Then,  when  the  body  of 
flesh  shall  be  laid  aside,  there  would  remain  a  body, 
material  to  be  sure,  but  compacted  of  a  kind  of 
matter  which  behaves  quite  differently  from  that 
which  our  sense  perceptions  deal  with.  It  is  a 
material  which,  so  far  as  science  has  anything  to 
say,  is  essentially  indestructible.  It  moves  freely 
amongst  and  through  ordinary  matter  without  let 


168  CHRISTIANITY 

or  hindrance.  One  can  at  any  rate  picture  to  him- 
self a  life  of  this  Ethereal  sort.  From  the  individual 
spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect  this  present 
"  muddy  vesture  of  decay  "  has  fallen  away,  leaving 
them  "  not  unclothed  but  clothed  upon  ".  They  are 
stiU  men.  They  have  rational  souls  with  material 
bodies  fit  to  sustain  and  to  express  their  psychical 
life.  The  matter  of  their  bodies  is  obedient  to  the 
laws  of  matter  and  life,  but  to  the  laws  of  that  kind 
of  life  and  matter.  There  are  celestial  bodies,  and 
there  are  bodies  terrestrial,  and  each  has  its  own 
mode  of  action.  Such  Ethereal  bodies  compacted 
with  living  souls  would  of  necessity  inhabit  a  uni- 
verse of  their  own,  even  though  that  universe  should 
occupy  the  same  space  that  this  one  does.  Neither 
earth  nor  fire  nor  water  could  impede  their  move- 
ment. In  frost  and  flame  they  would  be  equally  at 
home.  With  the  swiftness  of  light  or  gravitation 
they  would  speed  from  where  old  Bootes  leads  his 
leash  to  where  Sagitarius  draws  his  bow  in  the 
south.  With  bodies  of  such  fine  stuff  compounded, 
and  so  plastic  to  the  uses  of  the  spirit,  their  knowl- 
edge would  expand  until  Nature's  secrets  should  lie 
open  to  their  eyes.  Their  senses  would  be  so  acute 
and  so  delicately  balanced  as  to  be  capable  of  thrills 
of  pleasure  so  transcendent  and  of  pain  so  poignant, 
that  the  experiences  of  this  life  give  no  measure 
to  estimate  them  by.  Love  could  have  its  perfect 
way  where  there  would  be  perfect  comprehension. 
In  this  present  stage  no  personality  ever  knows  very 


BODIES  CELESTIAL  169 

much  of  any  other.  Each  is  shut  within  a  body 
which  at  best  can  only  partially  reveal  it.  And  the 
mind  is  continually  weighed  down  and  retarded  by 
the  thousand  ills  that  flesh  is  heir  to.  No  doubt 
the  Ethereal  body  is  subject  to  its  own  ills.  But 
with  it  as  the  vehicle  for  their  expression,  love  and 
knowledge  must  have  opened  to  them  possibilities, 
not  infinite  indeed,  but  so  extended  that  we  may  not 
even  try  to  guess  their  limits. 

All  this  is  based  upon  two  premises,  first,  that 
any  possible  future  life  must  be  an  embodied  life; 
and,  second,  that  there  exists  such  a  material  stuff 
as  may  serve  the  uses  and  needs  of  such  a  life.  It 
is  an  hypothesis.  But  every  advancing  step  of 
knowledge  is  gained  by  an  hypothesis.  If  the  theory 
be  found  to  bring  into  coherence  facts  which  are 
known  to  be  facts,  and  make  them  coherent  and 
intelligible,  and  lead  to  the  discovery  of  still  other 
facts,  it  slowly  changes  from  an  hypothesis  to  a 
conviction.     Will  this  one  bear  that  test? 

Let  us  see  first  to  what  extent  it  fits  the  language 
of  the  New  Testament. 

"  For  we  know  that  if  the  earthen  fabric  of  our  tent  be 
dissolved,  we  have  a  building  from  God,  a  fabric  not  made 
with  hands,  eternal,  in  the  heavens.  For  truly  in  this  we 
groan  being  burdened,  not  for  that  we  would  be  unclothed, 
but  clothed  upon,  that  what  is  mortal  may  be  swallowed  up 
in  life.  We  faint  not,  but  though  our  outward  man  is  decay- 
ing, yet  our  inward  man  is  renewed  day  by  day.  All  flesh 
is  not  the  same  flesh,  there  is  one  flesh  of  men,  another  of 
beasts,    another    of   birds,    so    there    are    celestial   bodies    and 


170  CHRISTIANITY 

bodies  terrestrial,  but  the  glory  of  the  celestial  is  one,  and 
the  glory  of  the  terrestrial  is  another.  So  also  is  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  dead.  It  is  sown  in  corruption,  it  is  raised  in 
incorruption;  it  is  sown  a  natural  body,  it  is  raised  a  spiritual 
body.  There  is  a  natural  body,  there  is  also  a  spiritual  body. 
The  first  man  is  of  the  earth,  earthen,  the  second  man  is  of 
heaven.  As  we  have  borne  the  image  of  the  earthy  we  shall 
also  bear  the  image  of  the  heavenly.  For  the  earnest  expecta- 
tion of  the  creature  waiteth  for  the  revealing  of  the  sons  of 
God.  For  we  know  that  the  whole  creation  groaneth  and 
travaileth  in  pain  with  us  until  now.  And  not  only  so,  but 
we  ourselves  which  have  the  first  fruit  of  the  spirit  groan 
within  ourselves  waiting  for  the  adoption,  that  is  to  say, 
the  setting  free  of  the  body ".  "  And  Jesus  was  transfigured 
before  them,  and  his  face  did  shine  as  the  sun,  ajid  his 
raiment  was  white  as  light,  and  behold,  there  appeaifed  unto 
them  Moses  and  Elias  talking  with  him".  "And  it  came  to 
pass  as  he  sat  at  meat  with  them  he  took  bread  and  blessed 
and  brake  it,  and  their  eyes  were  opened  and  they  knew  him, 
and  he  slowly  disappeared  from  their  sight ".  "  I  know  a  man 
in  Christ,  whether  in  the  body  or  out  of  the  body  I  know 
not,  caught  up  into  paradise,  and  he  heard  things  of  which  it 
is  not  possible  for  a  man  to  speak ".  "  From  henceforth  let 
no  man  trouble  me,  for  I  bear  in  my  body  the  marks  of 
Jesus  Christ ". 

Such  quotations  might  be  extended  indefinitely, 
but  these  are  enough  to  show  that  the  companions 
and  survivors  of  Jesus  looked  with  confidence  for  a 
future  life  of  such  sort  that  their  spirits  would  not 
be  left  naked,  but  clothed  upon  with  some  kind  of 
material  substance  which  was  even  then  being  woven 
for  them  in  the  secret  place  of  their  own  being. 
Whether  or  not  the  Ethereal  stuff  which  science  now 
knows  does  or  does  not  prove  to  be  that  which  may 
serve  as  the  physical  basis  of  a  continued  personal 


BODIES  CELESTIAL  171 

life,  it  may  fairly  be  said  that  it  enables  us  to 
conceive  of  such  a  life,  and  that  is  much.  The  late 
Professor  Cope  in  his  "  Origin  of  the  Fittest  "  asks, 
"  Is  there  any  generalized  form  of  matter  diffused 
through  the  universe  which  could  then  sustain  con- 
sciousness ?  "  and  answers,  "  The  presumption  is  that 
such  a  form  of  matter  may  well  exist." 

According  to  this  view  the  putting  on  of  immor- 
tality is  in  no  wise  the  passage  from  a  material  to 
a  spiritual  state.  It  is  the  passage  from  one  kind 
of  a  materially  conditioned  state  to  another.  In  this 
is  where  its  strength  lies.  It  turns  away  from  that 
unthinkable  region  of  disembodied  spirit.  We  shrink 
from  disembodied  being  with  a  repugnance  which 
cannot  be  overcome  by  any  argument.  Much  as  we 
may  yearn  for  immortality,  we  would  rather  miss  it 
than  possess  it  under  conditions  of  which  we  can 
form  no  conception  and  which  terrify  by  their 
strangeness. 

The  late  Professor  Shaler,  Dean  of  the  Scientific 
Facultj^  of  Harvard,  says,  "  A  number  of  men  of 
no  mean  authority  as  naturalists,  some  of  them  well 
trained  in  experimental  science,  have  after  long  and 
apparently  careful  inquiry,  become  convinced  that 
there  is  evidence  of  the  survival  of  some  after  death  ". 
This  is  a  conclusion  which  sensible  men  will  reach  very 
hesitatingly.  The  evidence,  if  evidence  it  can  be 
called,  is  found  by  an  analysis  of  that  enormous  but 
unsavory  mass  of  Spiritism,  Occultism,  Telepathy, 
Hypnotism,  and  such  like.    It  is  a  material  with  which 


172  CHRISTIANITY 

sane  men  are  reluctant  to  deal.  It  is  so  contaminated 
with  fraud,  charlatanism,  credulity,  and  hysterics 
that  one's  natural  inclination  is  to  pass  by  it  as  far 
on  the  other  side  of  the  way  as  the  width  of  the  road 
will  allow.  But  at  the  same  time  it  must  be  allowed 
that  there  is  a  growing  willingness  to  admit  that 
there  is  "  something  in  it  ".  It  is  not  easy  to  find 
even  an  educated  man  who  will  categorically  deny 
that  there  are  instances  wherein  one  personality  com- 
municates with  another  without  physical  media  of 
intercourse.  At  any  rate  the  belief  in  hypnotic  sug- 
gestion and  telepathic  communication  has  come  to 
be  quite  general.  The  proof  is  very  difficult  to  come 
at.  When  one  arises  from  reading  the  reports  of 
the  Society  for  Psychical  Research  or  the  experi- 
ments of  the  physical  psychologists  he  is  apt  to  find 
himself  in  a  very  exasperating  mental  state.  He  has 
the  feeling  that  he  is  here  in  the  presence  of  some 
kind  of  natural  phenomena  which  are  real  but  which 
are  being  exploited  by  the  wrong  people.  He  is 
not  much  better  satisfied  when  he  finishes  the  report 
of  a  Seybert  Commission  of  lawyers  and  scientists  ap- 
pointed by  a  great  university  to  investigate  the 
alleged  facts.  If  the  one  set  is  too  credulous,  the 
other  is  too  dogmatic. 

The  truth  would  seem  to  be  that  we  are  beginning 
to  take  serious  account  of  a  set  of  unclassified 
psychical  phenomena  which  correspond  very  closely 
with  a  newly  described  set  of  physical  phenomena. 
The  unthinking  person  is  prone  to  regard  such  things 


BODIES  CELESTIAL  173 

as  the  X-Ray  and  wireless  telegraphy  and  radiant 
energy  as  only  inventions  or  discoveries  which  are 
only  a  little  more  wonderful,  but  not  differing  in 
kind  from  a  thousand  others  which  have  gone  before. 
This  misapprehends  their  significance.  They  are 
phenomena  in  an  entirely  new  region;  doors  opened 
into  a  new  universe.  It  is  a  material  universe,  to 
be  sure,  and  one  which  we  see  now  to  have  been 
always  about  us.  Its  existence  had  long  been  sus- 
pected, but  there  was  no  proof,  and  there  did  not 
seem  to  be  any  organ  or  faculty  by  which  proof  could 
be  made.  It  is  a  universe  where  the  ordinary  laws 
of  matter  are  inoperative,  indeed  appear  to  be  non- 
existent, but  of  its  reality  no  one  thinks  of  doubting. 
Now,  coinciding  with  these  new  and  strange  discov- 
eries in  the  physical  sphere  there  appear  to  be  equally 
strange  phenomena  in  the  psychical  sphere.  Is  it 
unreasonable  to  believe  that  the  two  are  in  some  way 
correlated?  That  living  mind  can  and  does,  under 
certain  conditions,  act  upon  other  living  minds  with- 
out the  medium  of  matter  can  hardly  any  longer 
be  doubted.  Whether  it  be  a  "  departed "  spirit 
touching  a  living  one,  or  one  living  one  touching 
another,  seems  to  me  to  be  of  very  little  consequence. 
The  one  is  antecedently  just  as  probable  or  as  im- 
probable as  the  other.  But  so  far  all  indications 
point  to  the  belief  that  such  equivocal  phenomena 
have  their  place  in  a  region  which  is  not  spiritual 
in  the  sense  in  which  that  term  is  generally  used, 
but  in  one  which  is  material,  though  not  in  the  sense 


174  CHRISTIANITY 

which  that  word  ordinarily  connotes.  In  a  word, 
the  last  discovery  in  physics  and  the  last  experiment 
in  psychology  appear  to  function  in  the  same  region. 
The  way  in  which  all  this  concerns  our  theory  of 
another  life  ought  now  to  be  evident.  If  that  life 
be  one  which  involves  and  requires  a  material  basis, 
and  demands  it  at  a  time  when  the  matter  which 
ordinarily  serves  the  spirit  for  its  expression  shall 
not  be  available,  it  is  much  to  be  even  thus  tenta- 
tively convinced  that  spirit  can  function  under  other 
conditions  than  those  w^hich  belong  to  the  ordinary 
life  of  man.  It  gives  point  and  direction  to  ancient 
and  widespread,  but  vague  and  unfruitful,  hopes  and 
beliefs.     As  Professor  Shaler  judiciously  says: — 

"  Notwithstanding  this  disinclination  to  meddle  or  be  muddled 
by  the  problems  of  spiritism,  the  men  of  science  have  a 
natural  interest  in  the  inquiries  of  the  few  true  observers 
who  are  dredging  in  that  dirty  sea.  Trusting  to  the  evident 
scientific  faithfulness  of  these  hardy  explorers,  it  appears 
evident  that  they  have  brought  up  from  that  deep  certain  facts 
which,  though  still  shadowed  by  doubt,  indicate  the  persistence 
of  the  individual  consciousness  after  death.  It  has,  more- 
over, to  be  confessed  that  these  few  as  yet  imperfect  ob- 
servations are  fortified  by  the  fact  that  through  all  the  ages 
of  his  contact  with  nature  man  has  firmly  held  to  the  notion 
that  the  world  was  peopled  with  disembodied  individualities 
which  could  appeal  to  his  own  intelligence.  Such  a  conviction 
is  worth  something,  though  it  be  little.  Supported  by  any 
critical  evidence  it  becomes  of  much  value.  Thus  we  may 
fairly  conjecture  that  we  may  be  on  the  verge  of  something 
like  a  demonstration  that  the  individual  consciousness  does 
survive  the  death  of  the  body  by  which  it  was  nurtured  ".^ 

'  "  The  Individual  ". 


THE  MORAL  EFFECT 


"  It  is  certainly  hard  to  see  how  hope  can  be  based 
on  an  external  power  brought  to  bear  on  man's  nature, 
forcing  it  into  a  line  of  action  with  which  it  has  no 
affinity.  This  conception  of  compulsory  goodness  has 
nothing  in  common  with  the  Biblical  view  of  man's  re- 
lation to  divine  influence.  The  power  of  Christianity 
lies  not  in  the  fear  of  hell,  or  even  in  the  hope  of  any 
heaven  ".—Bruce,  "  The  Moral  Order  of  the  World  ". 


XI 

THE  MORAL  EFFECT 

There  is  a  practical  question  which  we  may  con- 
sider now.  No  moral  or  religious  belief  can  be 
adopted  or  rejected  without  some  regard  to  the  effect 
which  it  may  reasonably  be  expected  to  produce  upon 
the  conduct  of  those  who  entertain  it.  How  will  the 
doctrine  of  immortability  as  distinguished  from  im- 
mortality affect  men's  moral  life?  If  we  say  to 
them, — "  You  are  not  naturally  immortal,  but  you 
may  become  so  if  you  set  about  it  properly  ",  and 
if  they  believe  us,  will  they  be  the  better  or  the  worse 
for  it?  Of  course  the  intrinsic  truth  of  the  doctrine 
does  not  depend  upon  such  a  consideration.  That 
must  stand  or  fall  on  other  grounds.  If  it  be  true 
men  must  adjust  themselves  to  it  as  best  they  may. 
Truth  is  neither  made  or  unmade  by  an  estimate  of 
its  consequences.  But  at  the  same  time,  when  one 
is  endeavoring  to  determine  whether  or  not  such  a 
proposition  be  true,  he  cannot  but  be  influenced  by 
his  judgment  of  its  practical  result. 

It  is  quite  commonly  taken  for  granted  that  a  gen- 
eral belief  in  the  necessary  immortality  of  all  men, 
with  the  proffer  of  an  eternal  heaven  and  the  threat 
of  an  eternal  hell,  is  essential  to  the  moral  order  of 

177 


178  CHRISTIANITY 

society.  It  is  unquestionable  that  this  common  be- 
lief has  been  a  powerful  deterrent  from  evil  at  some 
times  and  within  certain  limited  areas.  It  operated 
thus  in  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages,  and  it  does 
so  to  some  extent  in  the  territory  of  Islam  to-day. 
But  all  will  agree  that  the  righteousness  thus  evoked 
is  of  a  very  unsatisfactory  quality. 

"  The   fear  o'  hell's  a  hangman's  whip 
To  haud  the  wretch  in  order ". 

It  has  never  succeeded  in  being  more  than  that. 
Reward  and  penalty  have  been  exploited  to  the 
utmost  for  moral  purposes.  The  joys  of  heaven  have 
been  painted  in  forms  most  alluring  and  colors  most 
ravishing ;  the  picture  of  hell  with  its  lurid  torments 
has  been  drawn  by  the  hands  of  the  world's  most 
transcendent  geniuses.  But  the  result  has  always 
been  amazingly  meagre  in  its  effect  upon  men's  con- 
duct. While  it  has  fired  a  few  with  an  ecstatic  long- 
ing and  overwhelmed  a  few  in  a  deadly  terror,  the 
great  multitude,  even  while  they  assent  to  the  truth 
of  the  doctrine,  live  as  though  it  were  non-existent. 
In  our  time  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether  its 
effect  is  appreciable.  It  is  generally  allowed  even 
by  the  most  orthodox  that  the  exploitation  of  a 
"  material  "  hell  and  a  "  material  "  heaven  has  been 
a  mistake.  But  they  do  not  appear  to  notice  that 
when  the  "  material  "  element  is  eliminated  from  the 
idea  nothing  is  left  of  it.  If  it  is  not  material  it 
is  nothing.     Its  practical  effect,  where  it  has  had 


THE  MORAL  EFFECT  179 

any,  has  been  due  to  the  way  in  which  it  allured  or 
frightened  the  imagination.  But  to  do  this  it  must 
be  presented  in  forms  with  which  the  imagination  can 
deal.  If  its  form  be  lacking  its  substance  is  gone. 
The  attempt  to  substitute  purely  spiritual  pleasures 
and  spiritual  pains  for  the  crude  glories  of  heaven 
and  horrors  of  hell  must  always  be  unsuccessful.  In 
point  of  fact  the  whole  presentation  of  future  reward 
and  penalty  has  ceased  to  move.  The  awards  and 
the  sentences  are  felt  to  be  irrelevant.  The  whole 
scheme  is  mechanical  and  artificial.  It  rests  upon 
presumptions  which  are  so  unreasonable  and  inequit- 
able that  advance  in  intelligence  and  moral  clarity 
renders  them  intolerable.  The  classification  of 
"  righteous  "  and  "  wicked  "  is  the  merest  figment — 
no  objective  fact  corresponds  to  it.  If  it  be  as- 
sumed that  every  man,  without  regard  to  his  stage 
of  moral  development,  passes  on  into  another  life 
which  is  endless  by  its  very  nature,  the  sense  of  fair 
dealing  demands  that  he  should  be  left  unclassified 
and  undoomed  until  he  has  reached  the  end  of  his  line 
of  moral  progress.  This  is  indeed  the  explicit  teach- 
ing of  Jesus  as  to  those  who  are  capable  of  passing 
on  at  all.  The  wheat  and  the  tares  grow  together 
until  the  end  of  the  ason.  But  this  natural  process 
of  life,  growth,  and  development  culminating  in  stable 
being  or  in  disintegration,  has  nothing  in  common 
with  the  scheme  of  probation,  trial,  judgment,  ac- 
quittal, and  sentence.  It  is  the  plain  fact  that  when- 
ever the  belief  becomes  current  that  a  future  life  of 


180  CHRISTIANITY 

some  sort  is  assured  for  all  in  any  event,  men  will 
conclude  to  wait  till  that  life  is  reached  before  be- 
ginning any  very  strenuous  effort  to  determine  its 
character. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  we  follow  the  teaching  of 
Christ  and  of  Nature,  we  find  a  moral  dynamic  which 
is  quite  incalculable,  and  from  which  there  is  no 
escape.  Compared  with  its  dire  exhibition  of  de- 
struction following  in  the  path  of  moral  offence,  the 
threat  of  hell  is  but  the  rattling  of  a  medicine  man's 
gourd.  Let  a  man  once  see  that  the  alternative 
which  confronts  him  at  every  step  of  his  moral  pro- 
gression is  life  or  death,  that  his  task  is,  as  Christ 
says,  to  "  win  for  himself  a  soul  ",  or  at  a  farther 
stage,  to  "  save  his  soul  alive  ",  and  he  will  realize 
that  he  is  face  to  face  with  reahties  and  not  with 
an  extraneous  arrangement  arbitrarily  established. 
The  appeal  is  to  that  deepest,  strongest,  most  per- 
sistent of  all  desires,  the  love  of  life.  "  Skin  for 
skin,  yea  all  that  a  man  hath  will  he  give  for  his 
life ".  Once  moral  self-consciousness  has  been 
reached  by  the  individual,  his  instinct  of  self-preser- 
vation may  confidently  be  depended  upon  to  induce 
strenuous  action  to  protect  himself  from  death,  un- 
less he  be  misled  by  some  outside  assurance  that  death 
is  not  for  him  a  possible  issue. 

It  may  well  be  that  suicide  is  possible  for  a  human 
soul  at  every  stage  of  its  history,  here  or  yonder. 
Indeed,  it  is  not  easy  to  conceive  the  possibility  of  a 
conscious   personality  being   kept   alive   against  its 


THE  MORAL  EFFECT  181 

own  determination  to  make  an  end  of  itself.  Such 
a  condition  of  existence  would  seem  to  contradict  the 
very  idea  of  personality.  It  may  be  that  God  is  no 
more  able  to  force  a  man  to  live  than  to  force  him 
to  love.  There  are  places  where  coercion  defeats 
itself.  Certainly  it  is  true  now  that  every  man  holds 
in  his  hand  the  power  to  slay  himself  if  he  will. 
One  wonders  sometimes  why  the  power  is  not  more 
frequently  used.  Hamlet  was  mistaken  in  his  ex- 
planation,— 'tis  not  "  the  dread  of  something  after 
death  which  makes  us  rather  bear  the  ills  we  have 
than  fly  to  others  we  know  not  of  ".  'Tis  not  be- 
cause "  resolution  is  sicklied  o'er  with  the  pale  cast 
of  thought  ".  The  resolve  upon  self-destruction  is 
reached  more  reluctantly  by  the  brutal  savage  who 
has  no  thought  of  anything  beyond  than  it  is  by 
the  educated  man  whose  imagination  is  crowded  with 
pictures  of  post-obituary  horrors.  The  elemental 
instinct  of  living  may  be  trusted  to  keep  one  from 
making  his  own  quietus,  wherever  he  may  be.  The 
horror  of  ceasing  to  be  is  a  far  more  powerful  emo- 
tion than  the  fear  of  damnation.  If  fear  be  needed 
at  all,  or  be  efficacious  at  all,  to  the  evocation  of 
goodness,  here  is  a  form  of  disaster  compared  to 
which  the  fear  of  hell  is  but  a  bogie  to  frighten 
children. 

The  continuance  of  any  individual  in  being  is 
dependent  upon  his  conforming  to  the  conditions  of 
life  at  the  stage  where  he  is.  St.  Paul  has  set  out 
in  a  most  precise  statement  what  are  the  laws  for 


182  CHRISTIANITY 

the  kind  of  beings  which  most  of  us  at  any  rate 
have  come  to  be.  When  one  has  reached  that  point 
of  moral  progress  which  he  describes  by  the  phrase, 
"  being  in  Christ  Jesus  ",  he  has  passed  out  from 
under  the  lower  law  binding  upon  creatures  who 
have  not  reached  so  far.  "  For  they  that  are  after 
the  flesh  do  mind  the  tilings  of  the  flesh,  but  they 
that  are  after  the  spirit  the  things  of  the  spirit. 
For  the  mind  of  the  flesh  is  death,  but  the  mind  of 
the  spirit  is  life.  The  mind  of  the  flesh  is  not  sub- 
ject to  this  higher  law  of  God,  indeed  it  cannot  be. 
But  ye  are  not  in  the  flesh  but  in  the  spirit,  pro- 
vided that  the  spirit  of  God  inhabiteth  you.  If  the 
spirit  of  him  that  raised  up  Christ  from  the  dead 
be  in  you,  he  that  raised  up  Christ  Jesus  from  the 
dead  shall  quicken  also  your  mortal  bodies  through 
the  spirit  that  dwelleth  in  you.  So  then,  brethren, 
we  are  under  obligation  not  to  the  flesh  to  live  after 
the  flesh;  for  if  ye  live  after  the  flesh  ye  are  bound 
to  die;  but  if  by  the  spirit  ye  mortify  the  flesh  ye 
shall  live  ". 

This  is  the  key  to  the  marvellous  welcome  with 
which  the  world  hailed  the  "  Good  news  of  the  Gospel 
of  the  resurrection  " ;  to  the  languid  indifference  with 
which  the  gospel  of  escape  from  hell  is  received  to- 
day; to  the  new  enthusiasm  for  righteousness  which 
might  be  expected  to  burst  forth  once  more  if  men 
were  brought  to  see  that  holiness  is  the  very  path 
to  abiding  life. 


THE  NEW  CREATION 


"  Thyself  and  thy  belongings 
Are  not  thine  own  so  proper  as  to  waste 
Thyself  upon  thy  virtues^  they  on  thee. 
Heaven  doth  with  us  as  we  with  torches  do, 
Not  light  them  for  themselves;  for  if  our  virtues 
Do  not  go  forth  of  us,  'twere  all  alike 
As  if  we  had  them  not.     Spirits  are  not  finely  touched 
But  to  fine  issues  ". 

— "Measure  for  Measure  ". 


XII 

THE  NEW  CREATION 

The  word  "  Christian  "  is  really  one  of  the  most 
vague  and  ill-defined  terms  in  common  use.  The 
definitions  of  it  which  have  been  made  are  as  a  rule 
either  so  confused  as  to  be  valueless,  or  so  precise 
as  to  be  untrue.  Is  the  "  Christian  "  simply  one 
who  is  "  better  "  than  his  neighbors  ?  Or  is  he  one 
who  has  been  admitted  to  membership  in  the  Or- 
ganization by  the  initiatory  sacrament.?  Or  is  he 
one  who  has  passed  through  some  special  phase  of 
emotional  experience?  The  reply  is,  All  these  defi- 
nitions are  irrelevant.  They  are  like  attempts  to 
express  a  chemical  compound  in  feet  and  inches,  to 
describe  a  polyp  or  a  marsupial  in  musical  notation, 
to  measure  a  mother's  grief  by  a  chemical  analysis 
of  her  tears,  to  define  a  human  child  in  terms  of 
geometry.  The  fact  exists  in  one  realm;  the  defini- 
tions are  drawn  from  another.  If,  however,  we  re- 
place the  whole  matter  in  the  region  where  it  be- 
longs, the  perplexity  disappears. 

The  practical  evil  of  this  confusion  is  incalculable. 
With  the  best  will  possible,  men  do  not  know  how 
to  set  about  the  matter.  Their  conduct  in  the 
sphere  of  religion  shows  a  strange  lack  of  purpose 

185 


186  CHRISTIANITY 

and  plan.  In  other  things  men  know  what  they 
want,  what  they  are  trying  to  do;  here  they  are 
vague  and,  as  a  consequence,  ineffective.  Many 
leave  it  alone  altogether  on  this  very  account.  It  is 
probably  the  case  that  religion  occupies  a  far  smaller 
space  in  everyday  life  within  Christendom  than  it 
does  in  heathen  men's  Hves.  The  Mohammedan  or 
the  Hindoo  allows  to  it  a  far  larger  measure  of 
activity.  This  is  not  because  he  is  more  religious 
than  we,  but  because  religion  is  for  him  far  more 
clearly  defined.  His  course  of  action  is  clear,  and 
is  followed  because  it  is  clear.  Among  us  it  is  not 
so.  Multitudes  are  kept  away  from  Christianity  a 
thousand  times  more  by  its  apparent  elusiveness 
than  by  its  moral  exactions  or  its  mystery.  "  What 
shall  I  do  to  inherit  eternal  life  ".^^  is  the  eternal 
cry  of  the  earnest  soul.  But  to  this  eager  inquiry 
there  is  no  answer  forthcoming  which  he  sees  how 
to  act  upon.  Jesus'  answer  seems  to  have  been 
strangely  lost  sight  of.  What  that  is  we  will 
have  to  examine  again.  But  in  its  absence  what  we 
see  all  about  us  is  a  curious  indefiniteness  of  aim 
in  religious  movement.  It  is  not  at  all  "  inconsist- 
ency ",  that  is,  failure  of  correspondence  between 
profession  and  practice.  It  is  action  which  is  with- 
out definite  purpose,  movement  which  goes  nowhere. 
The  practical  man  either  leaves  it  aside  altogether, 
or  he  commits  himself  to  a  mechanical  ecclesiasticism, 
or  he  trusts  to  an  unethical  revivalism.  He  thinks 
of  religion  as  submission  to  a  code,  or  as  subscrip- 


THE  NEW  CREATION  187 

tion  to  a  creed,  or  as  an  emotional  experience,  or 
as  some  combination  of  all  three. 

Jesus  presents  it  as  the  life  which  is  characteristic 
of  a  "  Kingdom  ".  Now,  a  kingdom,  in  nature,  is  a 
very  complex  and  mysterious  thing,  but  its  phe- 
nomena are  unmistakable.  Let  us  take,  for  exam- 
ple, the  Animal  Kingdom.  Its  frontiers  are  not 
sharply  defined.  Between  it  and  the  Vegetable  King- 
dom next  below  there  is  a  debatable  land,  how  ex- 
tended no  man  knows.  There  are  a  myriad  forms 
of  life,  as  yet  too  little  developed  to  allow  one  to 
say  which  kingdom  contains  them.  This  kingdom 
contains  within  its  borders  forms  as  widely  unlike 
in  manner  and  experience  as  the  Amoeba  and  the 
Man,  together  with  all  forms  between.  The  quality 
which  all  the  forms  possess  in  common  is  that  thing 
which  we  call  animal  life.  It  has  a  thousand  methods 
of  generation,  but  the  thing  generated  is  always  of 
the  same  kind, — a  living,  animal  form.  Its  most 
highly  organized  product  is  Man.  But  within  that 
form  there  is  also  immeasurable  diversity, — from 
the  individual  hardly  distinguishable  from  the  brute, 
to  the  man  a  little  lower  than  the  angels.  The 
Christian  Principia  is  that  the  germs  of  a  higher 
type  of  life  lie  latent  in  Humanity;  they  develop 
after  a  law  of  their  own;  that  Christ  is  organically 
connected  with  this  process  of  development;  and 
that  the  new  creature  is  the  Christian.  Is  it  pos- 
sible then  to  recognize  this  new  creature  when  he 
appears  ? 


188  CHRISTIANITY 

There  is  one  significant  fact  which  the  naturalist 
has  learned  in  studying  the  evolution  of  species. 
That  is,  a  new  form  does  not  take  its  start  from  the 
summit  of  the  form  next  below  it.  The  divergent 
path  which  issues  in  a  higher  being  takes  its  de- 
parture at  a  point  far  below  that  place.  The  line! 
of  evolution,  for  example,  which  culminates  in  Man, 
when  traced  backward  is  found  to  intersect  the  trunk 
of  the  tree  of  life  at  a  place  much  below  that  where 
the  Simian  lives.  By  analogy,  therefore,  we  may 
not  look  for  the  beginnings  of  the  "  new  life  "  at 
the  top  of  human  attainment.  It  must  be  sought 
for  among  meek  and  lowly  beginnings.  We  may 
expect  it  to  be  present  at  a  stage  where  the  intelli- 
gence is  but  little  developed,  where  all  human  powers 
and  faculties  are  relatively  low.  "  For  not  many 
wise,  not  many  noble,  not  many  mighty  are  chosen, 
but  God  hath  chosen  the  foolish  and  the  weak  things 
of  the  world  to  put  to  shame  the  things  which  are 
strong  ".  And  Jesus  announces  that  "  God  hath  hid 
these  things  from  the  wise  and  understanding,  and 
hath  revealed  them  unto  babes  ". 

Whatever  "  that  manner  of  life  which  was  also  in 
Jesus  Christ  "  may  prove  to  be,  we  may  expect  to 
find  it  compatible  with  a  modest  degree  of  intellectual 
development.  To  identify  the  "  Christian  "  we  must 
look  not  only  for  a  higher  life  than  that  which 
Humanity  has  already  exhibited,  but  for  a  different 
tj^pe  of  life.  The  disciples  of  Jesus  were  not  "  bet- 
ter "  men  than  their  contemporaries ;  they  had  be- 


THE  NEW  CREATION  189 

come  a  different  kind  of  men.  They  probably  com- 
pared but  illy  with  Seneca  or  Marcus  Aurelius  or 
"  the  sweet  Gallio  ".  They  were  men  of  limited  in- 
telligence and  faulty  character.  This  feature  is 
strikingly  true  of  Christianity  so  far  as  its  history 
is  contained  within  the  New  Testament.  St.  Paul 
addresses  his  converts  as  "  saints  ",  "  new  creatures  ", 
and  in  the  same  breath  rebukes  them  for  flagrant 
moral  lapses.  He  regrets  that  they  are  but  new- 
born babes  of  the  new  order,  and  can  only  be  fed 
with  milk  and  not  strong  meat.  All  that  the  new 
life  demands  is  a  human  personality  developed  far 
enough  to  make  its  beginning  possible. 

The  New  Life  attaches  itself  to  human  nature 
at  the  point  where  the  moral  sense  emerges  into 
self-consciousness.  In  its  essence  it  is  un-self-ish^ 
ness.  In  the  natural  man  the  soul  is  divided  between 
the  "  will  to  live  "  and  the  "  will  to  love  ".  Led  by 
the  one  he  strives  continually  to  conquer  all  things 
to  his  own  ends.  He  looks  toward  himself,  and 
must  ultimately  be  defeated  and  perish  because  the 
universe  is  hostile,  and  is  too  strong  for  him.  Led 
by  the  other  he  emerges  from  himself,  becomes  at 
home  in  the  universe,  and  akin  to  God.  The  first 
self-consciousness  of  this  kinship  is  the  "  new  birth  ". 
Like  all  new-born  things  it  is  feeble,  and  its  motions 
are  reflexive  rather  than  voluntary,  but  it  has  been 
born.  It  feels  outward  with  hesitating  fingers,  not 
to  clutch  the  universe,  but  to  caress  it.  But,  it  will 
be  asked.  Is  not  this  true  of  every  one?     I  reply,  no, 


190  CHRISTIANITY 

not  every  man.  Until  this  stage  is  reached  love  is 
lust,  the  power  to  possess  and  enjoy.  If  it  be 
asked,  Does  any  man  do  it,  I  reply,  Yes,  the  New 
Man  does,  and  this  is  the  test  by  which  he  is  identi- 
fied. The  classic  statement  of  the  doctrine  is  in  the 
First  Epistle  of  St.  John.  No  more  profound  utter- 
ance is  extant  in  philosophy  or  biology: — 

"  The  Word  of  life  was  manifested,  and  we  have  seen  and 
bear  witness  unto  you  the  eternal  life  which  was  with  the 
Father  and  was  manifested  unto  us.  That  which  ye  have  seen 
and  heard  we  declare  unto  you,  that  ye  also  may  have 
fellowship  with  the  Father  and  with  his  son  Jesus  the  Christ. 
For  Love  is  of  God,  and  every  one  that  loveth  is  begotten 
of  God,  and  knoweth  God.  He  that  loveth  not  knoweth  not 
God.  And  the  witness  is  this,  that  God  gave  unto  us  the 
eternal  life,  and  this  life  is  in  his  son.  He  that  hath  the  son 
hath  life  and  he  that  hath  not  the  son  hath  not  life.  These 
things  have  I  written  that  ye  may  know  that  ye  have  eternal 
life  ". 

The  "  Christian  ",  then,  is  the  human  being  who 
is  identified  by  his  peculiar  habit,  viz.,  his  will  to 
live  being  subordinated  to  his  will  to  love.  This  sets 
him  in  a  new  relation  to  both  the  spiritual  and  the 
physical  universe. 

But  if  this  is  the  case,  were  there  not  Christians 
long  before  Christ,  and  in  regions  where  no  word  of 
him  has  ever  reached?  Undoubtedly.  The  place 
of  Christ  in  the  New  Order  is  not  the  beginning  of 
a  series  but  the  centre  of  a  circle.  From  Galilee 
he  moves  outward  in  every  direction,  not  only  in 
space,    but    in    time    as    well.     The    "  Divinity    of 


THE  NEW  CREATION  19J 

Christ  "  is  a  far  larger  thing  than  even  Orthodoxy 
reahzes.  If  eternal  life  be  correlated  organically 
with  the  Son  of  Man  whom  we  adore,  it  must  be  in 
some  way  which  is  superior  to  times  and  dates,  and 
which  is  not  contingent  upon  missionaries.  We  may 
not  present  him  as  eternal,  and  at  the  same  time  as 
fixed  within  history  and  geography.  The  New  Man 
must  have  appeared  in  the  upward  progress  of 
humanity  at  a  date  long  before  God's  experiment 
with  human  living  in  the  time  of  Tiberius  Caesar. 
We  may  not  allow  the  need  of  theological  coherence 
to  shut  the  doors  of  the  Kingdom  against  "  Noah, 
Daniel,  and  Job  ",  or  their  kind  of  any  kin.  The 
God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  is  not  the  God 
of  the  dead  but  the  living.  Christianity  means  that 
whoever,  anywhere,  or  at  any  time,  has  attained  to  a 
spiritual  life  which  manifests  certain  qualities  has 
attained  onto  that  life  whose  laws  and  phenomena 
are  exemplified  in  him  "  of  whom  the  whole  family 
in  heaven  and  earth  is  called  ". 

There  is  another  and  a  perplexing  aspect  of  our 
theme  which  we  may  not  evade.  The  New  Man, 
whom  we  have  been  trying  to  identify  and  describe, 
exists  actually  in  such  rudimentary  and  incomplete 
shape,  and  passes  out  of  life  so  far  from  complete. 
"  Some  are  weak  and  sickly  among  you,  and  some 
are  asleep  ".  What  of  them?  What  of  the  unde- 
veloped child,  the  feeble-minded  and  the  feeble- 
souled,  that  great  multitude  who,  so  far  as  we  can 
see,  have  been  born  from  above,  have  the  will  to  love. 


192  CHRISTIANITY 

but  have  been  so  let  and  hindered  in  the  race  set 
before  them  that  they  must  needs  pass  on,  if  they 
pass  at  all,  like  Richard  the  hunchback  complained 
that  he  had  been  sent  into  this  life,  "  scarce  half 
made  up  "?  Frankly  speaking,  I  do  not  believe  this 
difficulty  would  ever  have  been  felt  except  for  the 
presence  of  a  meagre  and  poverty-stricken  concep- 
tion of  existence  to  which  an  unworthy  theology  has 
given  currency.  Without  any  warrant  of  God  or  of 
Scripture  or  the  reasonableness  of  things,  it  shuts 
up  the  whole  movement  of  man  within  the  compass 
of  two  stadia,  "  this  life  "  and  "  the  next  ".  Then 
it  assumes  that  this  one  is  the  period  of  "  probation  ", 
within  which  the  final  destiny  of  every  living  thing 
is  wrought  out  and  fixed.  No  conceivable  interest 
is  served  by  this  narrow  and  artificial  scheme  of 
things  except  that  of  logical  definition.  The  New 
Testament  has  no  such  constricted  outlook.  It  deals 
with  realities  and  has  little  thought  of  consistency. 
Existence  is  far  too  large  a  thing  to  be  seen  con- 
sistently. The  general  conception  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment is  that  the  new  life  of  the  individual  is  begun 
here,  and  that  he  passes  on,  incomplete,  into  an  ex- 
istence where  the  same  laws  of  being  operate  as  do 
through  time  and  space. 

Life  cannot  subsist  anywhere  without  movement, 
progress.  Arrest  means  disintegration.  By  what 
warrant  may  we  confine  the  successive  phases  of 
being  to  two,  or  to  any  number?  We  are  concerned 
now  only  with  the  transit  from  this  one  to  the  next, 


THE  NEW  CREATION  193 

but  we  can  only  think  of  the  individual  as  passing 
on  into  actual  development  and  real  vicissitude. 
Jesus  is  bold  to  make  Dives  develop  morally  under 
the  scorching  discipline  of  hell.  He  becomes  there 
a  better  man.  He  reaches  the  point  where  he  can 
take  thought  of  his  brethren,  about  whom  he  had 
not  concerned  himself  in  this  life.  Even  the  souls 
of  the  "  saints  under  the  altar  "  are  morally  lacking 
the  while  they  call  upon  God  for  vengeance  on  their 
persecutors.  The  next  life  must  either  be  a  real 
life,  for  real  persons,  with  real  experience,  or  else 
be  dismissed  as  the  work  of  a  fever  and  the  delirium 
of  a  dream.  Human  life  without  moral  movement 
is  inconceivable  at  any  stage.  It  is  the  law  of  its 
being.  Where  in  any  case  the  new  life  is  vigorous 
and  stable  enough  to  persist  at  all,  its  rudimentary, 
feeble,  and  incomplete  forms  cannot  but  move  in 
that  direction  which  is  determined  by  their  nature 
and  their  choice. 

The  practical  question  is  a  narrower,  though 
maybe  not  less  difficult  one. 

What  is  the  essential  note  or  mark  of  the  Christian 
in  the  world  in  which  we  actually  live?  The  oppro- 
brium of  Christianity  has  always  been  the  Christians. 
May  it  not  be  that  something  has  been  looked  for 
in  them  which  by  their  nature  is  not  theirs?  The 
function  of  the  individual  Christian  in  human  society 
has  been  variously  conceived.  Is  it  his  task  to  be 
a  model  for  conduct?  Or  to  be  an  active  reformer 
of  manners?     Or  to  be  an  administrator  of  alms? 


194  CHRISTIANITY 

Or  to  be  a  herald  of  new  truth?  He  has  been  praised 
and  blamed  equally  for  taking  and  for  refusing  any 
or  all  of  these  roles.  Shall  we  follow  the  ascetic 
and  say  that  the  "  religious  "  are  they  who  separate 
themselves  from  men  and  live  by  rule?  Shall  we 
listen  to  Tolstoi  and  strip  ourselves  of  property, 
resent  no  injury,  abjure  courts  of  justice,  refuse 
to  bear  a  sword?  Shall  we  follow  the  beckoning 
finger  of  the  sociologist  into  the  study  of  life  with 
a  view  of  bettering  its  conditions?  Shall  we  join 
the  philanthropists  to  distribute  bread  and  provide 
games?  The  answer  is, — ^AU  these  things  we  may 
or  may  not  do,  as  the  case  may  be.  Christianity  is 
compatible  with  the  doing  or  the  not  doing  of  any  of 
them,  but  these  things  are  not  Christianity. 

The  Christian  is  the  soul  that  wills  to  love.  But 
Love  is  an  affection  strong  as  well  as  tender.  It 
may  be  well  for  the  Christian  to  "  sell  all  that  he 
hath  and  give  to  the  poor  " ;  or  it  may  be  well  for 
him  to  trade  with  his  ten  talents  and  gain  ten  other 
talents.  It  depends.  He  may  not  allow  his  love  to 
lead  him  to  do  mischief.  Here,  for  example,  may 
be  a  community  of  poor,  living  squalidly,  lacking 
bread,  crowded  together  and  half  sheltered,  naked, 
sick,  and  cold.  In  their  midst  lives  one  of  Christ's 
family  who  is  rich.  But  suppose  that  community 
has  no  right  to  be  there  at  all?  Allow  that  it  is 
collected,  held  together,  by  lust,  greed,  indolence, 
selfish  thrif tlessness  ?     Grant  that  nothing  less  than 


THE  NEW  CREATION  195 

the  hard  stress  of  hunger  and  the  discipline  of  cold 
will  serve  to  bring  it  to  a  better  life.  What  course 
of  action  will  love  point  out  to  the  Christian?  I 
mean  real  love,  the  love  that  is  solicitous,  that  wills 
for  its  object  good  rather  than  pleasure,  the  love 
that  is  strong  enough  to  bear  its  own  anguish 
of  sympathy  rather  than  find  relief  by  opening  its 
hand  in  largesse.  And  in  what  does  this  situation 
differ  from  that  of  the  Son  of  Man,  richly  endowed 
with  the  power  to  heal  and  relieve,  surrounded  by  a 
world  full  of  sick,  palsied,  suffering,  naked?  Ought 
he  to  have  expended  his  capital  of  divine  power  in 
indiscriminate  healing?  Love  finds  a  way;  but  it 
must  be  the  way  which  love  illuminates.  For  Chris- 
tianity to  follow  the  feeble  and  essentially  selfish 
way  of  Tolstoi  and  his  kind  would  be  to  transform 
it  from  a  world  force  to  a  transient  makeshift.  It 
may  well  be  that  the  peril  most  imminent  to  Chris- 
tianity to-day  is  to  submit  itself  to  the  domination 
of  a  soft  affection,  like  that  of  a  soft  and  foolish 
mother  for  a  spoiled  and  exacting  child.  The  law 
of  the  Christian's  being  is  indeed  to  love,  even  his 
enemies ;  to  bless  even  his  persecutors ;  but  it  must 
be  with  a  good  which  works  good  and  not  harm  to 
the  enemy,  a  blessing  which  blesses  rather  than  that 
works  him  evil.  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the 
whole  vocabulary  of  stern  denunciation  and  judgment 
current  in  religious  speech  was  coined  by  Jesus,  and 
that  it  sprung  from  his  unbounded  love.     His  "  woe 


196  CHRISTIANITY 

unto  you  "  is  as  much  a  part  of  his  message  as  his 
"  blessed  are  you  ". 

Nor  may  the  Christian  man  or  state  put  aside 
the  sword  when  that  is  the  weapon  to  which  love 
points.  The  Puritans  had  a  fine  phrase  for  the 
character  which  they  held  in  honor ;  he  was  "  faithful 
even  unto  slaying ".  The  angelic  message  was 
"  peace  to  men  of  good  will  " ;  not  a  soft  and  un- 
discriminating  peace  to  men  who  deliberately  do  ill. 
Here  again,  the  peril  to  Christianity  may  be  not 
from  those  who  too  eagerly  thrust  the  sword  into 
its  hand  so  much  as  from  them  who  cry  peace,  peace, 
when  there  is  no  peace.  There  is  evil  in  the  world 
which  is  to  be  conquered  and  exorcised  by  gentle- 
ness ;  but  there  is  also  evil  which  is  to  be  driven 
down  a  steep  place  and  choked.  The  Christian 
law  is  to  love  his  neighbor  as  himself;  neither 
less  nor  more.  But  is  one  at  liberty  to  love  him- 
self so  that  he  may  not  discipline  himself,  with 
stripes  if  need  be?  If  it  be  better  for  him  to  cut 
off  his  right  hand  or  pluck  out  his  right  eye  if  it 
cause  him  to  offend,  shall  love  for  himself  hinder.? 
And  shall  love  forbid  him  to  do  so  much  for  his 
neighbor  .f^  The  widespread  delusion  which  prevails 
in  our  time,  the  distress  which  many  are  suffering 
who  would  do  the  Master's  will  but  cannot  see  the 
way,  arises  from  a  confusion  of  thought.  The  policy 
of  the  new  Kingdom  is  for  them  that  are  within  the 
Kingdom.  There  it  can  operate  safely,  and  with 
incalculable  potency.     But  it  is  not  the  law  of  "  the 


THE  NEW  CREATION  197 

kingdoms  of  this  earth ".  If  it  be  attempted  to 
apply  it  prematurely,  or  in  a  region  where  its  spirit 
which  is  its  dynamic  is  absent,  it  becomes  the  feeble 
and  mischievous  rule  of  doctrinaires.  The  New 
Order  comes  up,  lives,  multiplies  like  the  old.  That 
one  made  its  appearance  amid  "  the  dragons  welter- 
ing in  the  prime  ".  It  struggled  for  existence  ac- 
cording to  the  laws  of  its  own  nature ;  but  it  did  not 
essay  to  bring  the  dragons  under  its  law.  The  king- 
doms of  this  earth  are  not  yet  the  kingdoms  of  the 
Lord  and  of  his  Christ.  His  method  was  the  suc- 
cessive winning  of  separate  souls,  now  an  Andrew, 
now  a  Peter,  now  a  Philip,  until  he  had  discovered 
and  won  to  himself  a  few  men  and  women  fitted  to 
herald  and  inaugurate  a  higher  and  more  perfect 
social  life. 

It  is  no  doubt  true,  as  is  often  urged,  that  good 
men  will  not  necessarily  produce  a  good  society. 
But  it  is  not  true  of  the  kind  of  men  which  Christ 
begets.  But  they  can  only  produce  it  in  his  way. 
The  regime  of  the  Kingdom  is  not  to  be  promulgated 
prematurely,  nor  is  it  to  be  expected  to  function 
where  the  conditions  are  not  present.  His  folk  are 
counselled  to  be  wise  as  serpents  as  well  as  harmless 
as  doves.  If  they  are  wise  they  will  not  attempt 
to  "  restore  the  kingdom  to  Israel  "  at  this  or  any 
other  time.  They  will  live  their  own  immortal  lives 
and  quicken  ever  new  lives  into  their  own  by  contact 
of  life  with  life.  They  are  to  be  the  salt  of  the 
earth.     The  use  of  salt  is  not  for  shining  and  arid 


198  CHRISTIANITY 

blocks  to  build  temples  and  state  houses  withal.  It 
does  its  work  by  disappearing  in  the  lump  to  sweeten 
it.  It  is  leaven,  a  single  cell  of  which  starts  a  fer- 
mentation where  it  touches.  Its  manner  of  life  is 
not  that  of  the  mass  within  which  it  Hves,  but  its 
own.  When  its  function  is  accomplished  it  finds 
that  it  has  done  its  work  by  dying. 

This  is  also  the  judgment  of  the  great,  wise 
world  in  the  case.  The  Christian  Church  has  never 
undertaken  to  administer  charity  without  working 
mischief,  or  entered  the  arena  of  politics  without 
doing  evil.  When  the  impatient  minister  who  would 
hasten  the  Kingdom  enters  the  region  of  political 
action,  or  social  order,  or  economic  arrangement, 
the  world  looks  after  him  with  a  smile  or  a  frown 
or  a  shrug  or  a  malediction,  as  the  case  may  be.  Its 
true  instinct  tells  it  that  this  is  not  his  sphere  of 
action.  Its  hoarded  experience  moreover  tells  it 
•that  mischief  will  come  of  it.  A  Christian  Social- 
ism, Christian  Education,  Christian  Economics,  are 
phrases  which  will  not  bear  examination.  If  one 
should  speak  of  "  Christian  "  Chemistry,  or  "  Chris- 
tian "  Mathematics,  the  confusion  involved  would 
be  obvious,  but  it  exists  in  the  other  phrases  none  the 
less.  Christian  men  have  indeed  to  do  with  the  activ- 
ities of  life,  and  must  needs  go  into  every  region  of 
it.  But  they  do  not  go  for  the  purpose  of  overturn- 
ing the  laws  which  obtain  in  those  regions.  Wherever 
they  go  they  meet  beings  of  their  own  order,  and 
they  transform   others   into  their  own  likeness   bj^ 


THE  NEW  CREATION  199 

vital  conduct.  There  is  a  freemasonry  of  the  spirit 
which  does  not  exhibit  the  work  of  its  lodge  in  the 
market-place  or  the  legislature.  When  liis  friends 
would  have  "  taken  Jesus  by  force  and  compelled 
him  to  be  a  king  "  he  departed  and  hid  himself.  He 
continues  to  do  so. 

The  first  and  typical  Christian  is  Christ.  If  one 
can  get  free  from  misconception  he  will  see  the  mar- 
vellous simplicity  of  that  life.  He  set  out  neither 
to  seek  a  cross  for  himself  nor  to  readjust  the  world's 
confusion.  He  went  not  a  single  step  out  of  his  path 
to  find  a  pang  of  body  or  soul.  Such  hurts  as  might 
be  avoided  without  missing  his  purpose  were  avoided. 
He  met  the  cross  because  it  stood  in  his  path.  He 
neither  sought  nor  shunned  it.  Nor  did  he  meddle 
in  any  way  with  institutions  or  collective  terms  of 
evil.  Intemperance,  cruelty,  slavery,  injustice,  in- 
fanticide, divorce,  were  all  around  him.  They  flour- 
ish as  vigorously  yet  in  heathenesse.  Within  Chris- 
tendom he  and  his  kind  have  wonderfully  reduced 
them,  and  expect  to  eradicate  them.  But  what  of 
success  has  been  achieved  has  been  by  his  method. 
The  organizers  of  reforms  and  secretaries  of  socie- 
ties have  their  work  to  do,  and  their  work  is  most 
efficient  where  the  personnel  is  most  Christian,  but 
after  all  it  remains  true  that  the  "  kingdom  of 
heaven  cometh  not  with  observation  ".  The  regener- 
ating force  in  human  society  has  been  and  is  that 
innumerable  company  of  unknown  men  and  women 
who  have  been  transformed  in  the  image  and  likeness 


200  CHRISTIANITY 

of  Christ,  who  do  not  cry  nor  lift  up  their  voices 
in  the  street,  but  quicken  the  world  by  simply  liv- 
ing their  new  life.  Outwardly  they  look  and  act 
much  as  other  men;  but  essentially  they  are  new 
creatures.  ? 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH 


"  The  idea  of  One  Holy  Catholic  Church  was  not 
early  developed  in  the  consciousness  of  Christendom. 
In  the  East  this  article  of  the  Church  does  not  occur  in 
the  creed  of  Ignatius,  a.d.  107,  nor  in  that  of  Origen  in 
the  middle  of  the  third  century,  nor  in  the  creed  of 
Lucian  of  Antioch  at  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  cen- 
tury. It  first  appears  in  the  private  creed  of  Arius,  328. 
The  Nicene  creed  has  no  article  of  the  Church,  but  in 
the  Nicene-Constantinopolitan  form  it  appears  in  its 
fulness,  '  One  Holy  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church.' 
This  point  was  reached  toward  the  close  of  four  hundred 
years  of  Christian  thought ". — Wood,  "  Survivals  in 
Christianity  ". 


xni 

THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH 

It  is  plain  that  Jesus  had  in  mind  a  church;  it 
is  equally  plain  that  the  thing  which  we  call  the 
Church  is  not  the  thing  he  had  in  mind.  The  diffi- 
culty which  one  confronts  at  the  outset  is  to  find 
the  thing  at  all.  There  is  no  objective  reality  to 
which  the  title  "  Christian  Church  "  can  be  applied. 
There  are  churches  a  plenty ;  but  there  is  no  Church. 
If  any  one  fancy  there  is,  let  him  ask  himself,  where 
is  it?  Let  him  point  to  it,  define  it,  locate  it,  delimit 
it.  If  he  urge  that  the  hundreds  of  organizations 
called  churches  are  actually  the  component  parts  of 
some  great,  all-embracing  Kingdom,  we  can  only  say 
that  he  has  not  stopped  to  examine  the  content  of 
his  thought.  What  he  has  in  mind  is  the  picture 
of  an  empire  which  includes  within  it  separate  and 
partially  independent  states.  That  conception  is  a 
perfectly  coherent  and  legitimate  one.  It  is  possible 
for  an  empire  to  be  thus  constituted ;  but  only  on  the 
condition  that  the  constitutive  states  act  harmoni- 
ously toward  a  common  end,  and  that  the  empire 
have  a  conscious  will  and  purpose  of  its  own.  But 
this  is  precisely  what  the  churches  do  not  do.     They 

203 


^04  CHRISTIANITY 

do  not  act  together  harmoniously ;  they  confront  and 
oppose  each  other ;  they  do  not  work  toward  a  com- 
mon end,  for  they  do  not  conceive  the  purpose  the 
same  way;  and  the  universal  Church  thus  imagined 
has  neither  a  conscious  will  and  purpose  of  its  own 
nor  any  organ  by  which  to  express  it.  "  The  One 
Holy  Catholic  Church  "  is  a  phrase  to  which  no 
objective  reality  corresponds. 

In  the  political  sphere  we  observe  a  steady  move- 
ment toward  unification,  and  this  movement  has  been 
visible  for  a  long  time.  There  are  not  one-half  as 
many  separate  governments  in  the  world  to-day  as 
there  were  even  a  century  ago.  So  far  as  one  can 
see  there  is  much  more  immediate  prospect  of  a  Uni- 
versal State  than  there  is  of  a  Universal  Church. 
It  is  a  startling  fact  that  the  most  potent  divisive 
force  at  work  in  Christendom  is  the  churches.  All 
other  barriers  are  easier  to  overcome,  all  other 
schisms  easier  to  heal.  This  is  all  the  more  amaz- 
ing when  we  reflect  that  the  dying  prayer  of  its 
Founder  was  "  that  they  all  may  be  one  ".  The 
actual  facts  are  indeed  so  monstrous  that  Christians 
habitually  try  to  disguise  them.  They  fondly 
imagine  an  ideal  Church  at  some  undefined  date  or 
place  in  the  past,  whose  unity  has  been  broken,  but 
which  we  may  hope  to  see  restored ;  or  that  the  rival- 
ries are  not  real  rivalries  but  emulations ;  or  that 
the  Church  is  essentially  an  invisible,  transcendental 
thing,  not  meant  to  show  concretely  on  earth.  But 
these  are  only  fond  imaginings.     However  they  may 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  205 

satisfy  those  who  nurse  them,  the  great  open-eyed 
world  knows  better. 

Let  us  examine  the  situation  as  it  actually  is. 
There  is  no  Christian  Church,  that  is,  there  is  no 
such  world-organization  with  a  conscious  mind  and 
will,  and  organs  to  give  them  expression,  and  there 
never  has  been.  Instead,  we  find  the  ecclesiastical 
world  divided  into  three  great  sections,  with  in- 
numerable subdivisions.  Each  of  these  acts  not  only 
apart  from  the  others,  but  acts  habitually  with  a 
view  to  thwart,  restrain,  and  overthrow  the  others. 
More  important  still,  each  has  a  separate  spirit, 
a  different  organizing  principle  The  Oriental 
churches  are  organized  around  the  principle  of 
Dogma.  The  object  which  they  place  above  all 
others  is  to  hand  down  through  the  ages  certain 
formularies  which  they  conceive  to  express  finally 
the  truth  concerning  Christ.  To  this  end  all  else 
is  subordinated.  They  call  themselves  the  "  Ortho- 
dox "  Church.  The  outcome  of  this  spirit  has  been 
what  might  have  been  expected,  intellectual  stagna- 
tion and  moral  impotence.  The  Eastern  Church  sits 
to-day  in  its  tawdry  Basilica  an  embalmed  corpse, 
robed  in  stiffly  embroidered  vestments,  with  a  creed 
in  its  dead  hand,  while  its  people  bow  before  it 
with  the  forehead,  and  hear  from  its  lips  no  voice 
which  reaches  their  souls.  Its  people  are  devout, 
ignorant,  superstitious ;  its  rulers  are  orthodox, 
cruel,  punctilious  of  ecclesiastical  form,  and  lacking 
in  truth  and  ruth.     A  keen  observer  who  has  had 


206  CHRISTIANITY 

great  opportunity  to  know  has  said  that  "  the  Rus- 
sian Empire  is  really  not  an  empire  at  all;  it  is  a 
church,  and  its  qualities  are  those  which  the  Church 
has  produced."  This  Church  has  had  a  longer  con- 
tinuous life  than  any  other,  and  so  far  as  one  can 
see,  it  has  in  the  main  missed  the  spirit  and  purpose 
of  the  Master.  In  any  case  it  stands  remote  from 
the  rest  of  the  Christian  world,  understanding  it 
little,  and  little  affected  by  it. 

The  second  in  order,  both  historically  and  geo- 
graphically, is  the  Church  of  Rome.  As  the  Russian 
Empire  is,  strictly  speaking,  not  an  empire  but  a 
church,  so  this,  to  be  accurate,  is  not  a  church  but 
an  empire.  Its  organizing  principle  is  Dominion. 
Its  cardinal  claim  is  Authority;  its  cardinal  virtue 
is  Obedience.  Its  claim  is  in  no  way  disguised  or  miti- 
gated. It  asserts  itself  to  be  the  true  and  only 
Church  of  Christ  on  earth.  Its  Pope  is  God's  vice- 
gerent, and  is  infallible.  Within  it  there  is  eternal 
safety ;  outside  it  there  is  no  safety.  Because  Christ 
has  ordained  it  so,  it  has  authority  over  every  region 
of  human  life  and  action,  its  only  limit  being  its 
own  judgment  not  to  enter  upon  any  given  area. 
If  it  does  not  regulate  political  or  domestic  arrange- 
ments, it  is  only  because  it  decides  in  its  own  wisdom 
not  to  do  so,  and  not  because  it  is  without  right 
to  do  so.  Its  one  aim  is  domination.  To  this  it 
adjusts  all  its  power  and  machinery.  Its  informa- 
tion is  drawn  from  every  quarter  of  the  world.  Its 
ministers    and    officials    are    loose-footed   janizaries, 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  207 


who  may  not  take  root  anywhere  in  family  life,  or 
form  human  affections  which  may  weaken  or  hamper 
their  absolute  devotion  to  the  organization  which 
they  serve.  Its  characteristic  title  is  "  Catholic  " ; 
it  claims  authority  over  all.  It  is  the  old  Roman 
Imperium  baptized.  It  believes  that  in  this  fashion 
it  represents  Christ's  will,  and  best  carries  out  his 
intention.  Is  it  right  in  its  claim?  Is  it  likely  to 
succeed? 

The  first  of  these  inquiries  I  need  hardly  stay  to 
answer.  But  the  second  is  one  about  which  well 
informed  men  are  slow  to  form  an  opinion.  Per- 
sonally I  do  not  believe  that  any  one  is  warranted 
in  either  hoping  or  fearing  that  the  Roman  idea 
of  the  Church  will  prevail.  It  has  within  it  elements 
of  great  potency,  as  all  must  see,  but  has  within  it 
also  the  seeds  of  its  own  necessary  decay.  Looking 
over  its  history  during  the  centuries,  one  is  struck 
by  the  fact  that  at  the  very  times  and  places  where 
its  success  has  been  most  complete  its  overthrow  has 
been  most  imminent.  It  ought  to  be  borne  in  mind 
that  this  idea  of  universal  dominion  was  not  always 
held  by  the  Roman  Church.  It  took  possession  of 
the  organization  slowly,  but  in  the  end  controlled 
it  entirely.  Nowhere  else  in  history,  probably,  has 
equal  patience  and  sagacity  been  displayed  in  work- 
ing toward  the  realization  of  an  ideal,  and  nowhere 
else  more  complete  and  reiterated  failure.  From  the 
sixth  century  onward  for  nearly  a  thousand  years 
this    organization   dreamed,   planned,    prayed,    and 


^08  CHRISTIANITY 

fought  for  dominion  over  Western  Europe.  Finally 
it  gained  its  end.  At  the  opening  of  the  sixteenth 
century  there  was  none  to  gainsay  its  will.  King 
and  artisan,  scholar  and  peasant  alike  were  docile 
subjects  of  this  ecclesiastical  empire.  But  its  suc- 
cess was  its  undoing.  Within  a  century  it  lost  the 
British  Islands,  Scandinavia,  the  most  of  Germany, 
with  local  insurrections  throughout  its  whole  domain. 
Then,  with  the  same  infinite  patience  and  skill,  it 
set  about  the  task  of  reconstruction.  Once  again 
it  succeeded  within  a  more  restricted  area  in  Europe, 
but  replaced  the  lost  territory  with  a  wider  empire 
in  Mexico  and  South  America.  Three  centuries 
more  have  gone  by,  and  during  them  it  has  lost 
its  rule  in  Mexico,  the  South  and  Central  American 
states,  in  France,  Italy,  and  Portugal,  and  with 
Spain  in  insurrection.  In  all  these  cases,  wherever 
the  people  have  had  opportunity  to  express  their 
will  by  vote,  they  have  turned  against  the  Church, 
refused  to  do  her  will,  restrained  her  pretensions, 
secularized  her  accumulated  wealth,  expelled  her 
agents,  in  a  word,  repudiated  her  principle  of  do- 
minion. These  things  have  happened  too  often  and 
too  uniformly  to  be  attributed  to  accident  or  to  the 
unruly  wills  and  passions  of  men  or  times.  They 
can  well  be  accounted  for  as  the  operation  of  a  law 
which  may  always  be  counted  upon  to  show  itself 
when  the  time  is  full.  Will  the  same  cycle  be  run 
in  these  United  States,  where  the  immediate  destiny 
of  the  world  is  lodged  .'^     One  must  needs  fear  it  or 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  209 

hope  it,  according  to  his  wish.  Here  is  the  same 
ancient  claim  of  dominion, — nothing  abated,  nothing 
disguised.  Here  is  the  same  patience,  skill,  and  de- 
votion in  upbuilding.  Here  is  the  same  semblance 
of  success.  Will  there  be  the  same  revolt  and  over- 
throw.?    And  when.? 

The  third  segment  of  the  ecclesiastical  circle  is 
that  ill-defined  aggregation  which  we  call  Protestant- 
ism. The  spirit  and  temper  which  differentiates  it 
has  been  in  the  world  always ;  but  in  so  far  as  it  is 
organized  it  dates  from  the  revolt  against  the  Roman 
claim  to  domination  in  the  sixteenth  century.  With 
it  we  are  more  immediately  concerned.  How  nearly 
does  it  present  Christ's  ideal  of  a  Church?  What 
is  its  outlook?  When  one  studies  its  history  he  is 
impressed  by  the  fact  that  as  an  ecclesiastical  force 
it  has  lost  much  of  its  initial  energy.  It  reminds 
one  of  the  course  of  a  mighty  shell  fired  by  an 
enormous  charge.  While  it  held  together  its  mo- 
mentum was  terrific,  but  as  it  broke  into  fragments 
each  fragment  possessed  less  energy.  When  these 
in  succession  subdivided  its  potential  energy  became 
still  feebler.  The  explosive  power  which  impelled 
it  originally  was  the  sense  of  individual  liberty, — 
liberty  of  conscience,  liberty  of  thought  and  speech, 
liberty  of  action.  When  these  are  restrained  or  re- 
pressed, they  gather  an  ever  increasing  fulminating 
energy.  But  when  they  are  set  free,  maybe  with 
noise  and  commotion,  they  do  not  always  quite  know 
what  to  do  with  themselves.     This  is  the  condition 


210  CHRISTIANITY 

of  the  Protestant  churches.  Thej  are  free,  and  they 
do  not  know  what  next.  Liberty  is  a  dangerous 
spirit  to  raise.  The  only  power  to  control  it  is 
Truth.  But  here  they  hesitate  and  fumble.  A  cen- 
tury ago  each  one  had  a  Confession  or  a  System 
of  truth  which  satisfied  it.  It  had  a  message  wliich, 
whether  true  or  faulty,  it  could  deliver  when  chal- 
lenged. But  now  the  very  spirit  of  intellectual  free- 
dom which  they  invoked  has  examined  these  doctrinal 
structures,  and  in  the  name  of  Truth  has  rejected 
them.  The  result  has  been  to  produce  a  hesitation 
and  sense  of  uncertainty  which  bodes  ill  for  Protest- 
antism. It  lacks  a  clear  and  definite  message  to 
heathen  and  Christian  alike.  Once  it  could  go  to 
the  heathen  with  a  heart  full  of  pity  for  a  man 
who,  it  believed,  would  be  consigned  to  eternal  tor- 
ment in  hell  if  the  missionary  failed  to  reach  him 
in  time  to  save.  It  does  not  believe  that  now;  but 
it  has  not  found  clearly  what  motive  will  take  its 
place  and  do  its  work.  It  would  be  difficult  to  find 
a  place  where  greater  disingenuousness  prevails  than 
here.  Congregations  of  Christian  people  are  ex- 
horted to  labor  and  give  "  to  carry  the  Gospel  to 
them  that  are  perishing ".  With  their  gifts  the 
missionary  macliinery  of  the  denomination  plants  new 
churches  in  communities  where  the  Gospel  has  been 
proclaimed  for  years,  and  where  are  too  many 
churches  alread}^  The  motive  which  is  urged  is 
not  really  the  motive  which  controls.  The  desire 
is  not  really  to  "  carry  the  Gospel  ",  it  is  to  extend 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  211 

and  aggrandize  the  ecclesiastical  organization.  If 
any  Church  actually  believes  that  outside  itself  sal- 
vation is  not  to  be  found,  this  appeal  is  morally 
worthy,  whatever  may  be  said  of  its  reasonableness. 
But  if  it  does  not  believe  that  one  shrinks  from 
giving  its  "  missionary  "  activity  a  name. 

It  at  least  looks  as  though  organized  Protestantism 
were  a  spent  force.  It  is  uncertain  and  hesitating 
in  its  message ;  its  rivalries  and  consequent  wasteful- 
ness render  it  impotent;  it  has  lost  the  controlling 
position  it  once  held  in  colleges  and  universities ;  the 
laboring  classes  have  largely  drifted  beyond  the 
sound  of  its  voice ;  the  middle  classes  are  less  and 
less  attending  its  services ;  the  great  gifts  of  money 
which  it  once  received  are  now  being  turned  in  other 
directions.  Its  Revival  machinery  has  to  a  large 
extent  been  abandoned.  General  Booth  declares  that 
the  Salvation  Army  as  well  as  other  companies 
which  set  out  with  the  single  aim  "  to  save  souls  ", 
tend  irresistibly  to  become  instruments  for  the  dis- 
tribution of  secular  charity.  An  ever  increasing 
number  who  have  been  counted  within  the  churches 
are  dropping  away.  It  is  not  because  they  have 
been  seduced  from  their  old  allegiance  by  a  rival, 
or  have  become  hostile,  it  is  simply  because  they  do 
not  find  anything  there  which  satisfies  their  religious 
need.  In  a  word,  it  is  not  powerful  enough  as  an 
organization,  as  Rome  is,  to  be  reckoned  with  in 
political  life.  It  is  too  incoherent  to  speak  or  act 
efficiently  in  the  social  sphere.     It  does  not,  as  it 


212  CHRISTIANITY 

once  did,  command  the  enthusiastic  service  of  the 
religious  individual. 

From  all  these  things,  which  are  commonplace 
facts,  within  the  ken  of  all  observant  men,  it  would 
seem  that  there  is  something  fundamentally  faulty 
in  all  the  attempts  which  have  been  made  to  realize 
concretely  Christ's  ideal  of  a  Church.  Where  the 
exhibition  of  Doctrine  is  the  controlling  motive,  it 
ends  in  Oriental  stagnation.  Where  Dominion  is  its 
aim,  it  runs  round  within  the  closed  circle  of  Rome, 
through  growth,  power,  tyranny,  to  revolt,  and 
around  again.  Where  Individual  Liberty  is  the  goal, 
it  issues  in  confusion  and  weakness.  Neither  Ortho- 
doxy, nor  Catholicity,  nor  Liberty,  nor  any  nice 
balance  and  combination  of  them,  can  be  the  notes 
or  tests  of  the  Society  wliich  Jesus  contemplated. 

Against  this  whole  view  two  objections  are  likely 
to  be  opposed.  In  the  first  place,  it  will  be  said, 
the  churches  are  actually  strong  and  vigorous,  and 
are  striving  mightily  to  conquer  the  world  for 
Christ.  Their  statistics  of  growth  can  always  be 
marshalled  in  such  a  way  as  to  spell  success.  Never- 
theless, their  general  course  through  a  long  period 
of  time  has  been  as  I  have  set  forth.  In  calculating 
the  line  of  movement  of  any  body  one  can  only  study 
that  portion  of  its  orbit  which  has  been  under 
observation.  From  that  the  equation  of  its  curve 
is  calculated,  and  its  destination  predicted. 

The  second  objection  is,  that  it  is  inconceivable 
that  the  Divine  Founder  of  the  New  Kingdom  should 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  213 

have  permitted  its  line  of  movement  to  be  thus  de- 
flected to  barren  issues.  Could  he  have  allowed  so 
long  time  to  be  wasted  while  his  people  made  their 
mistakes  and  discovered  them?  We  can  only  reply 
by  pointing  to  what  is  God's  actual  way  of  doing 
things.  He  permitted  nature  to  run  out  a  myriad 
of  aimless  lines  before  she  discovered  the  one  which 
culminated  in  Man.  How  many  more  asons  were 
seemingly  wasted  before  the  New  Man  was  reached.^ 
One  thing  v/e  may  be  sure  of^  in  the  New  Kingdom 
as  well  as  in  the  old,  the  members  thereof  will  be 
allowed  to  find  out  and  retrace  their  missteps,  let 
the  time  be  long  or  short. 

For  many  ages  the  minds  of  Christians  have 
turned  backward  with  a  sort  of  helpless  yearning 
toward  the  "  primitive  Church  ".  It  has  been  felt 
that  it  possessed  a  secret  of  power  which  has  in  some 
way  fallen  out  of  sight.  Probably  no  equally  brief 
period  of  time  has  ever  been  studied  so  exhaustively 
as  has  the  century  which  followed  the  disappearance 
of  Jesus.  During  that  time  his  Society  spread  with 
such  amazing  rapidity,  exhibited  such  a  unique  life, 
was  so  sure  of  itself,  moved  toward  its  purpose  with 
such  inexplicable  courage,  arrested  and  held  the 
attention  of  the  encompassing  world  in  such  a  way 
as  to  compel  the  conviction  that  it  knew  something 
which  we  do  not  know  and  wielded  some  power  which 
the  Church  to-day  does  not  possess.  But  the  at- 
tempt to  recover  the  lost  secret  has  not  been  satis- 
factory.    May  it  be  possible  that  we  have   looked 


214  CHRISTIANITY 

for  the  wrong  thing?  Theologians  have  scrutinized 
the  records  of  the  Early  Church  to  find  out  what 
was  its  creed.  Ecclesiastics  have  interrogated  it 
to  find  out  its  form  of  organization, — ^whether  it  was 
Presbyterian,  Episcopal,  or  Congregational,  whether 
it  recognized  this  official  or  that,  and  which  was 
superior  and  which  subordinate.  Liturgists  have 
studied  to  ascertain  whether  its  rites  were  performed 
in  this  way  or  that  way.  Antiquarians  have  asked 
it  curious  questions  about  its  manners  and  customs. 
To  all  these  questionings  it  vouchsafes  but  a  meagre 
answer.  And,  what  is  of  more  consequence,  it  an- 
swers in  a  tone  which  shows  that  it  deemed  all  these 
things  of  small  moment.  It  refuses  to  say  what  its 
doctrine  was,  or  what  its  policy.  Any,  or  all,  or 
none,  of  the  interpretations  put  upon  it  may  be 
correct.  But  its  secret  was  in  none  of  these  things. 
There  are  two  conceptions  of  a  church.  One  is 
that  it  is  an  Organization,  in  form  analogous  to  a 
political  State,  but  in  spirit  and  purpose  religious. 
It  is  a  State  which  includes  in  it  all  sorts  of  citizens, 
a  few  who  are  intelligently  loyal  and  devoted,  and 
many  who  accept  its  citizenship  and  share  its  benefits 
and  protection  passively,  without  thought,  by  force 
of  habit.  It  includes  good  citizens  and  bad.  Its 
terms  of  naturalization  are  intentionally  adjusted  to 
admit  and  to  include  all  save  those  who  have  shown 
themselves  dangerous  to  the  body  politic.  Most  of 
its  members  are  such  by  the  accident  of  birth  within 
its  frontiers.     It  is   simply  human   society  ordered 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  215 

in  one  way  for  religious  life,  as  it  is  ordered  in  a 
different  way  for  secular  life.  According  to  this 
view,  the  ideal  Church  in  any  country  would  be  one 
which  is  exactly  conterminous  with  the  State,  and  of 
which  every  inhabitant  is  eoo-offlcio  a  member.  In 
its  perfect  form  the  Christian  Church  and  the  Chris- 
tian State  would  be  identical.  The  distinction  be- 
tween sacred  and  secular  would  disappear.  This  is 
in  fact  the  conception  of  the  Church  which  holds 
the  field.  It  is  true  that  its  ideal  is  not  realized, 
the  Church  is  broken  and  divided,  but  each  separate 
portion  acts  after  the  manner  of  a  state;  fixes  the 
terms  of  citizenship ;  counts  all  born  within  it  as 
members ;  admits,  rejects,  expels,  as  it  judges  proper. 
It  makes  or  unmakes  citizens  according  to  its  own 
rules.  But  the  goal  toward  which  all  these  petty 
religious  states  look  is  a  time  when  they  shall  have 
negotiated  terms  of  consolidation,  and  shall  be  fused 
together  in  one  great  Christian  Church  which  will 
include  all  the  people.  Was  this  the  consummation 
which  Jesus  had  in  mind  when  he  projected  his 
Church?  Would  such  a  religious  commonwealth  be 
the  Church  of  Christ? 

There  is  another  conception  which  is  drawn  from 
quite  a  different  sphere  of  human  life  and  action. 
According  to  it  the  Church  is  not  a  state  but  a 
family.  It  is  constituted  of  individuals  whose  bond 
of  union  is  altogether  unlike  that  which  binds  together 
citizens  in  a  commonwealth.  Its  members  are  related 
by   blood,   bound   together   by   a   common   kinship, 


SI  6  CHRISTIANITY 

cemented  bj  an  affection.  This  affection  springs 
from  their  antecedent  kinship.  This  Family  is  in 
the  world,  but  not  of  it.  It  increases  and  multiplies 
by  its  own  methods.  As  such,  it  has  no  concern 
with  the  secular  life  in  the  midst  of  which  it  hves. 
It  has  its  own  ideals,  its  own  activities,  and  finds  its 
own  satisfactions.  It  is  not  an  organization,  but 
an  organism ;  not  an  aggregation,  but  a  brotherhood. 

Now,  it  is  commonly  assumed  that  these  two  con- 
ceptions of  the  Church  can  live  and  act  at  the  same 
time ;  that  it  can  be  at  once  a  state  and  a  family ; 
that  it  can  expand  according  to  the  ways  of  a  state, 
and  at  the  same  time  grow  according  to  the  ways 
of  a  biological  kingdom.  This  cannot  be.  A  thing 
cannot  at  the  same  time  grow  like  a  plant  and  be 
built  like  a  house.  The  two  modes  of  being  are 
incompatible.  To  merely  recognize  this  confusion 
of  thought  would  go  far  toward  setting  the  Church 
in  the  way  to  correct  its  practical  confusions. 

The  first  Christians  thought  little  about  a  church, 
one  way  or  the  other.  They  thought  of  themselves 
as  a  family,  each  member  of  which  felt  within  him- 
self the  thrill  of  a  new  life.  They  were  "  alive  in 
Christ  " ;  they  had  been  "  born  again  " ;  made  "  new 
creatures  " ;  "  old  things  had  passed  away  and  all 
things  had  become  new "  for  them.  They  were 
bound  together  in  this  new  spiritual  kinship.  It 
constituted  a  relationship  closer  than  friendship  or 
even  common  blood.  So  completely  did  it  take  pos- 
session of  them  that  they  had  all  things  in  common; 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  217 

neither  did  any  count  anything  his  own.  They  sold 
all  their  possessions  and  brought  the  proceeds  to  the 
Apostles'  feet  for  distribution  among  "  the  breth- 
ren ".  Their  motive  had  nothing  in  common  with 
that  which  produces  "  Socialism  ".  Nor  was  it  any- 
thing like  "  love  of  mankind  ",  or  "  realization  of  a 
common  humanity  ".  They  took  no  account  of  man- 
kind as  such.  As  a  fact  they  were  denounced  by 
their  contemporaries  as  haters  of  mankind.  When 
they  spoke  of  "  the  brethren  ",  "  the  faithful  ",  "  the 
saints  ",  they  meant  those  individuals,  many  or  few, 
who  shared  with  them  the  new  life.  When  they 
preached  their  message  was  "  the  resurrection  and 
the  new  life  ".  They  imparted  this  life  by  personal 
contact.  When  the  divine  spark  was  kindled  in 
any  one  he  was  baptized  and  numbered  with  the 
disciples.  He  was  baptized  because,  as  St.  Peter 
said  of  Cornelius  and  his  friends,  "  they  have  re- 
ceived the  Holy  Spirit  even  as  we  ".  There  was  no 
doctrinal  test  at  all,  in  our  sense  of  the  word.  There 
was  no  moral  test  save  the  evidence  of  the  new  life. 
Nor  by  that  did  they  mean  any  superior  morality, 
but  only  the  new  spirit,  which  they  confidently  ex- 
pected to  produce  Christlike  conduct.  They  met 
together  in  affectionate  family  groups  for  the  break- 
ing of  bread.  Such  rites  as  they  had  were  simple 
and  natural.  Such  officials  as  they  had  were  not 
sharply  distinguished  from  the  rest  of  the  brethren. 
Their  aim  was  to  spread  a  new  kind  of  life,  not 
to   organize  and  extend  an  institution.     Their  im- 


£18  CHRISTIANITY 

mediate  success  was  the  most  wonderful  thing  in 
human  history.  Under  the  same  conditions  the  mis- 
sionary machinery  and  the  missionary  motive  of 
to-day  would  have  been  as  impotent  as  the  attempt 
to  create  a  man  by  steam  power. 

This  "  Brotherhood  of  the  New  Life  "  in  that  form 
passed  out  of  sight  with  the  end  of  the  first  century, 
like  a  western  river  disappears  in  the  sand.  For 
nearly  two  centuries  thereafter  almost  nothing  is 
known  concerning  it.  When  it  emerges  again  in  the 
light  of  history,  its  Gospel  had  become  "  Christi- 
anity ".  The  upper  room  where  the  family  group 
had  broken  bread  together  had  been  expanded  into 
the  gorgeous  Basilica;  the  elder  had  become  the 
Pontiff;  the  simple  Communion  meal  had  become  a 
mysterious  sacramental  Function;  instead  of  little 
companies  bound  together  in  affection  we  find  great 
congregations,  strangers  to  one  another;  instead  of 
"  the  brethren  "  it  now  embraces  the  population  of 
the  empire,  from  the  Emperor  down;  instead  of  a 
band  of  brothers  sharing  their  possessions  with  each 
other  we  find  a  Church  with  imperial  endowments. 
It  has  a  hierarchy,  liturgies,  canons,  creeds,  disci- 
plines. In  a  word,  the  society  which  passed  out  of 
sight  a  spiritual  brotherhood  reappears  a  religious 
empire.  Was  this  a  development  or  transforma- 
tion ? 

For  a  brief  period  the  Ecclesiastical  State  pre- 
served a  pohtical  unity,  identified  with  the  unity  of 
the     empire.     But     presently     the     empire     fell    to 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  219 

pieces,  and  the  Church  broke  up  with  it.  From  that 
time  to  this  the  political  conception  of  the  Church 
continued ;  notwithstanding  there  has  been  no  time — 
not  even  a  single  day — when  one  could  point  to  any 
organization  and  say,  this,  or  this,  is  the  Church. 
Now,  at  the  beginning  of  this  twentieth  century  since 
Christ,  multitudes  of  good  men  are  profoundly  dis- 
satisfied with  the  situation.  Their  quarrel  is  not 
with  this  church  or  that  one,  with  this  dogma  or 
that  one ;  they  hold  aloof  from  them  all.  They  hold 
Christ  in  unfeigned  reverence.  They  are  not  sure 
whether  or  not  they  accept  the  definitions  of  him  set 
forth  in  the  formularies.  They  do  not  feel  sure 
that  they  could  define  him  any  better,  but  they  are 
sure  they  would  define  less.  They  possess  the  same 
spirit  which  was  In  him,  some  of  them  to  a  pre- 
eminent degree.  But  they  have  no  use  for  a  church. 
In  Catholic  countries  they  firmly  refuse  to  yield  it 
the  personal  submission  which  it  demands.  There 
are  indications,  moreover,  that  the  attitude  of  pas- 
sive aloofness  which  they  have  maintained  for  a  long 
time  Is  changing  into  active  impatience  and  hostility. 
In  Protestant  communities  they  refuse  to  acknowl- 
edge the  divine  sanction  of  any  church.  To  speak 
frankly,  the  things  about  which  they  see  the  churches 
busying  themselves  appear  to  them  to  be  paltry  and 
unreal.  Their  rites  seem  archaic  and  conventional, 
their  teaching  either  unintelligible  or  disingenuous. 
They  gauge  accurately  the  real  Influence  of  the 
churches    in    practical    affairs,    and    they    hold    the 


£20  CHRISTIANITY 

opinion  that  the  controlling  motive  of  each  one  is 
to  exploit  society  in  its  own  interest.  This  is  the 
class  with  which  the  churches  must  reckon.  It  is 
one  which  has  never  before  been  confronted  on  a 
large  scale.  Now  it  is  increasing  with  enormous 
rapidity.  One  may  say  that  its  presence  is  the 
characteristic  feature  of  the  religious  situation. 
Among  it  is  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  leaders 
in  every  region  of  life,  managers  of  affairs,  admin- 
istrators of  charities,  educators,  governors  of  states, 
college  professors,  editors  of  newspapers,  judges, 
legislators,  farmers,  teachers,  mechanics.  The  rate 
of  increase  of  this  class  is  many  times  greater  than 
the  churches'  increase. 

The  primitive  conception  of  the  Church  has  never 
perished.  It  has  been  oversloughed  by  the  political 
imagery  employed,  but  it  has  always  persisted. 
Christians  still  speak  of  each  other  as  "  brethren  ", 
even  in  circumstances  where  the  epithet  is  less  than 
appropriate.  They  still  have  a  definition  of  the  real 
Church  which  they  never  apply  to  any  actual  one, 
the  "  Blessed  Company  of  all  Faithful  People ". 
The  language  which  they  spontaneously  use  at  the 
times  of  deepest  devotion  always  echoes  the  original 
thought.  At  Baptism  the  terms  used  to  indicate 
the  meaning  of  the  transaction  are  biological  terms  : 
"  regenerated  ",  "  grafted  into  the  body  of  Christ's 
Church  ".  They  are  terms  which  would  be  mean- 
ingless in  any  political  sense.  They  throw  back  to 
a   time   when   the    Church   thought   in   those   terms. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  221 

They  speak  of  "  being  received  as  God's  Child  by 
adoption  ",  "  dying  unto  sin  ",  "  living  unto  right- 
eousness ",  and  such  like.  In  the  other  Sacrament 
the  same  ideas  lie  at  bottom.  Its  terms  and  symbols 
are  vital,  not  political  ones.  And  for  this  reason, 
that,  as  things  are,  at  that  Table  and  there  only  the 
real  Church  is  encountered.  It  speaks  its  own 
mother-tongue  because  there  are  no  strangers  pres- 
ent. Was  it  wise  for  it  ever  to  attempt  to  speak 
a  universal  language? 

Here,  then,  would  seem  to  be  the  key  to  the  whole 
perplexing  situation.  The  Church  of  Jesus  Christ 
began  as  a  new  Family  in  the  world.  It  was  meant 
to  grow  according  to  its  own  laws  of  reproduction. 
For  a  time  it  did  so.  Eventually,  even  if  slowly,  it 
would  have  absorbed  and  assimilated  all  from  among 
men  who  are  ready  to  "  be  born  again  ".  But  the 
process  was  slow,  costly,  painful.  When  the  pain 
was  at  the  heaviest  the  Emperor  of  the  world  offered 
it  "  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth  and  the  glory  of 
them  ".  The  wearied  Church  accepted.  Instead  of 
transforming  the  world,  the  world  transformed  it. 
Thus  did  "  the  fatal  gift  of  Constantine  "  seduce  and 
mislead  the  Bride  of  Christ. 

But  if  this  be  true  in  any  real  sense,  what  is  there 
for  the  Church  to  do  ?  Can  she  retrace  her  stumbling 
steps  back  to  the  fourth  century,  find  the  place  where 
the  path  branched,  and  start  anew  along  the  other 
road?  We  may  be  quite  sure  she  will  not  do  this 
except  as  a  last  resort.     The  dream  of  being  a  world 


222  CHRISTIANITY 

power  has  been  too  long  entertained  for  that.  The 
habit  of  reckoning  success  by  numbers  has  become 
a  second  nature.  So  long  as  by  any  means  the 
figures  may  be  made  to  show  increase  of  numbers 
the  habit  will  continue.  But  there  are  indications 
from  every  quarter  that  she  will  be  compelled  to 
retrace  her  steps  and  resume  her  old  ideal. 

Few  realize  how  profound  is  the  revolution  which 
has  occurred  during  late  times  in  the  relation  be- 
tween the  Church  and  organized  society.  In  Con- 
stantine's  time  Christianity  was  made  the  official  re- 
ligion of  the  State.  From  that  time  onward,  for 
fifteen  hundred  years,  the  State  built  churches,  main- 
tained them,  constrained  the  people  to  attend  them. 
This  came  to  be  everywhere  regarded  as  the  natural 
as  well  as  the  divine  order  of  things.  The  force 
of  statutes,  the  resources  of  taxation,  the  power  of 
the  common  law,  could  all  be  appealed  to  in  the 
interest  of  the  Church.  Tliis  condition  remained 
until  the  United  States,  the  first  government  in  the 
world  to  do  so,  decreed  in  her  constitution  that  "  no 
law  should  be  made  concerning  religion  ".  The  far- 
reaching  consequences  of  that  provision  were  proba- 
bly not  dreamed  of  by  any  man  then  living.  It 
started  that  movement  now  almost  complete,  to  take 
from  the  Church's  hand  the  staff  upon  which  she 
has  leaned  throughout  almost  the  whole  of  her  jour- 
ney. When  the  Church  asked  for  liberty,  for  "  the 
separation  of  Church  and  State  ",  she  little  realized 
what  effect  it  would  have  upon  her  own   fortunes. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  223 

That  effect  has  been  long  in  showing  itself.  Long 
after  the  State  withdrew  its  support,  society  from 
use  and  wont  continued  to  do  through  pressure  of 
custom  and  public  opinion  that  which  law  had  for- 
merly compelled.  We  have  now  about  reached  the 
point  where  public  opinion  follows  the  constitution. 
We  are  in  spite  of  ourselves  being  pushed,  or  led, 
back  to  the  position  of  the  primitive  Church.  That 
asked  nothing  of  the  powers  of  this  world  except 
to  be  let  alone.  It  was  a  voluntary  association  of 
the  men  of  the  new  life,  living  and  acting  in  the 
midst  of  a  society  which  took  no  account  of  it  or  its 
rules,  except  as  they  were  won,  one  at  a  time,  to 
submit  themselves  to  the  new  Way.  But  when  the 
State  offered  its  powerful  aid  they  gratefully  fell 
into  its  arms.  Now  the  Emperor  has  abandoned  the 
Church  which  he  seduced. 

In  proportion  as  the  churches  realize  and  accept 
the  situation  will  they  find  the  path  clear,  though 
no  doubt  painful.  But  if  the  path  is  to  be  found 
it  must  be  by  those  who  have  become  free  from  the 
dogmatic  and  imperial  spirit  of  Constantine's  age. 
Indeed  it  is  most  unlikely  that  the  churches,  acting 
officially,  will  ever  escape  from  the  evil  case  into 
which  they  are  rapidly  falling.  So  far  as  one  can  see, 
the  Roman  Church  has  so  completely  identified  her- 
self with  the  idea  of  dominion  that  to  abandon  it 
would  be  suicide.  It  may  even  be  probable  that 
for  a  time  her  gain  may  be  great  by  reason  of  the 
migration  to  her  of  those  who  have  felt  after  the 


224  CHRISTIANITY 

same  ideal  in  Protestantism  without  finding  satis- 
faction. But  even  so,  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of 
her  realizing  her  dream  are  multiplying  as  time  goes 
on.  Her  ultimate  failure  is  inevitable  from  the  na- 
ture of  things.  For  the  same  reason  the  Anglican 
churches  which  affect  to  maintain  a  nice  balance 
between  two  incompatible  conceptions  of  what  the 
Church  is,  must  dwindle  by  the  dropping  away  of 
those  who  find  no  satisfaction  in  either  of  them.  So 
also,  the  separate  Protestant  churches  appear  to  be 
each  one  so  compactly  organized  around  its  particu- 
lar confession  and  so  bound  to  its  own  Church  by 
sentiment  that  no  fonnal  action  is  likely  to  be  taken. 
But  is  it  still  too  much  to  expect  that  the  disjecta 
membra  of  the  Christian  fraternity  may  draw  to- 
gether and  become  a  Church  such  as  Jesus  had  in 
mind?  Such  a  Church,  pretending  to  be  nothing 
but  what  it  is,  with  the  sad  experience  of  the  cen- 
turies to  enlighten  it,  would  find  Church  Unity  a 
thing  already  achieved.  Its  creed,  discipline,  and 
ministry  would  arrange  themselves,  for  they  would 
be,  as  they  were  originall}^,  the  natural  and  spon- 
taneous expression  of  its  life.  No  doubt  they  would 
be  much  the  same  as  they  have  always  been,  but 
they  would  occupy  a  different  and  far  less  conspicu- 
ous place  than  is  now  accorded  them.  Its  creed 
would,  maybe,  be  less  precise,  but  more  alive;  its 
ministry  less  prominent  and  more  serviceable;  its 
discipline  not  that  of  rules  and  canons,  but  that  in- 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  225 

exorable  law  by  which  living  things  choose  and  re- 
ject among  the  things  they  touch. 

Such  a  Church  would  be  undisturbed  by  the  exodus 
now  going  on.  It  would  see  it  for  what  it  actually 
is,  namely  the  automatic  correction  of  a  census  main- 
tained long  upon  a  false  basis.  It  would  not  be 
disturbed  by  the  withdrawal  of  that  great  multitude 
who  have  gone  out  from  it  because  they  were  really 
not  of  it.  For  such  a  Church  many  souls  are  wait- 
ing. Good  men,  like  those  I  have  instanced  above, 
do  not  stand  aloof  from  the  Church  as  it  is  now 
because  it  is  too  religious,  but  because  it  is  not 
religious  enough.  They  would  greet  with  sober  ardor 
a  Church  which  offered  them  a  share  in  the  new  and 
abiding  life  in  Christ,  and  which  took  no  thought  for 
itself  at  all.  For  Jesus'  dictum  is  as  true  for  a 
Church  as  for  a  man,  "  whoso  humbleth  himself  shall 
be  exalted,  and  he  that  exalteth  himself  shall  be 
abased  ". 


THE  SUM  OF  THE  WHOLE  MATTER 


"Later  on, — My  creed  has  melted  away,  but  I  be- 
lieve in  good,  in  the  moral  order,  and  in  salvation;  reli- 
gion for  me  is  to  live  and  die  in  God,  in  complete  aban- 
donment to  the  holy  will  which  is  at  the  root  of  nature 
and  destiny.  I  believe  in  the  Gospel,  the  Good  News — 
that  is  to  say,  faith  in  the  love  of  a  pardoning  Father  ". 
— ^Amiel,  Journal. 


XIV 
THE  SUM  OF  THE  WHOLE  MATTER 

A  LARGE  portion,  and  by  no  means  the  worst,  of 
the  world  to-day  is  dissatisfied  with  its  religion.  It 
is  not  less  but  more  anxious  to  find  some  outlet  for 
its  devotion,  some  guide  for  its  life,  some  answer  to 
its  obstinate  questionings,  than  at  any  previous 
time.  Parents  stand  hesitatingly  before  their  chil- 
dren, and  do  not  know  what  they  ought  to  teach 
them.  They  are  more  and  more  reluctant  to  confide 
them  to  the  Sunday  school,  for  there,  they  believe, 
they  will  be  taught  a  host  of  things  which  are  not 
true,  and  they  dread  the  time  when  the  children 
shall  discover,  as  they  themselves  have,  that  they 
are  not  true.  Tens  of  thousands  of  men  and  women 
who  used  to  attend  church  habitually  no  longer  do 
so.  Every  Christian  minister  sees  and  deplores  this 
falling  away.  No  statistics  or  census  reports  will 
disguise  the  fact.  Church  statistics  are  worth  less 
than  nothing.  One,  for  example,  reports  simply 
"  Catholic  Population  ",  that  is,  the  number  who, 
in  its  judgment,  ought  to  belong  to  it.  Others  re- 
port by  name  and  number  the  additions,  and  only 
guess  at  the  lapses  and  losses.  It  is  probably  speak- 
ing within  bounds  to  say  that  not  one  parish  in  ten 

229 


230  CHRISTIANITY 

could  find  and  locate  one-half  the  number  of  mem- 
bers it  reports.  Even  with  this  method  of  enumera- 
tion one  of  the  most  vigorous  of  churches,  the  Prot- 
estant Episcopal,  reports  ^  for  1910  a  net  gain  of 
only  two  per  cent,  in  members ;  an  increase  of  51 
in  Confirmations  for  a  communicant  list  of  800,000 ; 
an  actual  decrease  in  Baptisms  and  Marriages.  No 
doubt  other  churches  would  make  a  similar  show- 
ing. 

It  would  be  an  error  to  refer  this  falling  away  to 
increasing  luxury,  or  dissipation,  or  satisfaction 
with  secular  life.  In  the  first  place,  the  loss  is 
greater  among  the  working  classes  than  among  the 
well  to  do.  Beside  that,  the  religious  interest  of 
the  masses  is  shown  by  the  eager  way  in  which  they 
snatch  at  any  other  answer  offered  to  the  riddle  of 
life.  When  Professor  Haeckel's  "  Riddle  of  the  Uni- 
verse "  appeared  a  few  years  ago,  two  hundred  thou- 
sand copies  were  sold  in  a  single  year.  It  and  books 
like  it,  are  welcomed  and  read,  not  because  they 
fortify  unbelievers  in  their  denials,  but  because  they 
provide  some  answer,  poor,  thin,  and  disheartening 
as  it  is,  to  the  demands  which  Christianity  as  pre- 
sented does  not  satisfy.  What,  then,  is  it  which 
Christianity,  when  stripped  of  all  extraneous  and 
superfluous  matter,  has  to  say  to  the  soul  which 
seeks  to  know?  The  substance  of  the  reply  may  be 
stated  somewhat  as  follows: 

The  controlling  principle  of  Jesus'  teaching  and 

*  "Whittaker's  Almanac. 


THE  SUM  OF  THE  WHOLE  MATTER  ^31 

living  is  that  the  essential  quality  of  the  being  whom 
he  calls  "  Father  "  is  love.  He  presents  him,  not  as 
a  great  king  conducting  the  complex  affairs  of  a 
great  empire,  nor  as  a  creator  constructing  and 
regulating  the  complicated  movement  of  the  uni- 
verse, but  rather  as  some  venerable  and  benignant 
Oriental  sheik.  He  has  children  and  descendants 
beyond  count,  and  in  their  veins  his  own  blood  flows. 
But  as  they  have  multiplied  they  have  moved  away 
from  and  become  unmindful  of  their  father  and  of 
their  kinship  with  each  other.  This  fact  weighs,  an 
eternal  burden,  on  the  patriarch's  heart.  They  are 
indiff'erent  to  him,  and  they  quarrel  with  one  an- 
other. No  machinery,  no  law  or  threat  of  penalty 
can  reach  the  situation.  The  one  thing,  and  the 
only  thing  which  can  bring  harmony  out  of  the  con- 
fusion of  existence  is  the  restoration  of  the  family 
affection. 

But  it  is  plain  tliat  this  cannot  be  brought  about 
by  compulsion.  The  verb  to  love  has  no  imperative 
mood.  God  can  no  more  compel  a  man  to  love  him 
than  can  a  man  compel  the  affection  of  his  wife  or 
neighbor.  Nor  are  arguments  of  any  more  avail. 
Love  laughs  at  reasons.  This  is  why  both  Theology 
and  Ethics  are  impotent.  Theology  addresses  itself 
to  the  intelligence,  and  Ethics  to  the  conscience, 
whereas  it  is  the  affections  which  are  primarily  con- 
cerned. "  My  son,  give  me  thine  heart "  is  the  bur- 
den of  God's  speech.  The  very  most  that  Theology 
as  a  science  can  do  is  to  make  it  appear  probable 


2S2  CHRISTIANITY 

that  the  nature  and  action  of  God  in  the  universe  is 
thus  and  so.  But  the  crucial  point  at  which  it  sig- 
nally breaks  down  is  in  the  attempt  to  convince  that 
the  God  of  thought  has  a  heart.  A  candid  survey  of 
the  actual  facts  of  life  leaves  one  in  doubt  as  to 
whether  the  world  is  controlled  by  a  Power  who 
wishes  well,  or  wishes  ill,  or  is  utterly  indifferent  to 
the  fortunes  of  men.  Looking  at  the  course  of  his- 
tory in  the  large  it  is  possible,  no  doubt,  to  discern 
in  its  movement  "  a  power,  not  ourselves,  which 
makes  for  righteousness  ".  It  is  possible,  but  it  is 
not  inevitable.  For,  while  it  is  true  that  a  steady 
progress  in  goodness  and  gentleness  can  be  seen 
from  time  to  time  in  this  or  that  people,  or  race, 
or  epoch,  still,  even  these  appear  to  be  arrested  at 
last  by  the  stronger  force  of  age  and  decline. 

Even  were  it  possible  to  establish  the  fact  that 
the  race  is  being  steadily  led  forward  in  goodness, 
there  is  nothing  to  show  that  the  Power  which  leads 
it  has  either  hate  or  ruth  for  the  individual.  The 
old  ditty  has  in  it  the  concentrated  experience  of  the 
ages,— 

"As  I  walked  by  myself,  I  talked  to  myself, 
And  thus  myself  did  say  to  me; 

*  Look  to  thyself,  and  take  care  of  thyself. 
For  nobody  cares  for  thee '. 

"  Then  I  turned  to  myself,  and  I  answered  myself 
In  the  selfsame  reverie; 

*  Look  to  thyself,  or  look  not  to  thyself. 

The  selfsame  thing  will  be'".  . 


THE  SUM  OF  THE  WHOLE  MATTER  233 

The  most  that  any  Ethical  system  can  do,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  to  express  an  opinion,  more  or  less 
weighty,  that  men  ought  to  act  toward  each  other 
thus  and  so.  It  may  well  be  doubted  whether  men 
have  ever  been  appreciably  influenced  by  any  scien- 
tific presentation  of  Morals.  From  Confucius  and 
Aristotle  down  to  Bernard  Shaw,  the  moralist  has 
been  a  speculator  in  abstractions.  His  achievement 
is  only  to  take  a  certain  number  of  "  oughts  "  and 
"  ought  nots  "  already  present  in  human  society,  ar- 
range them  in  the  symmetrical  way  which  he  fancies, 
expound  their  relationships,  and — with  scant  success 
— try  to  trace  their  origin,  and  get  them  put  in  prac- 
tise. There  is  no  motive  power  in  ethics,  whether  as 
a  judgment  formed  by  the  individual,  or  as  a  com- 
pulsion imposed  from  without. 

Not  that  Theology  and  Ethics  are  useless.  The 
intelligence  which  craves  knowledge,  even  of  the  un- 
knowable, both  will  and  ought  to  seek  its  satisfac- 
tions. The  moral  conduct  of  men  needs  regulation 
from  day  to  day,  and  society  must  control  it,  with 
what  knowledge  it  can  gather  from  any  quarter.  But 
neither  of  these  have  to  do,  except  indirectly,  with 
Christ's  scheme  of  things.  They  do  not  function  in 
that  area  of  life  in  which  he  moves. 

It  is  commonly  assumed  that  the  disturbing  ele- 
ment in  life  is  that  thing  which  we  call  Sin.  But 
this  is  not  Christ's  view.  It  is  most  significant  that 
while  he  lived  he  offended  the  moralist  and  the  con- 
ventionally  religious   by   what   they   thought   to   be 


^34  CHRISTIANITY 

the  laxity  of  his  moral  judgments.  Publicans  and 
sinners  were  his  daily  companions.  The  woman  sur- 
prised in  the  very  act  of  the  capital  crime  against 
social  morals  was  rescued  by  him  from  her  accusers, 
and  dismissed  with  a  kindly  warning.  The  leman  of 
Simon  the  Pharisee  received  from  him  no  harsher 
judgment  than  "  she  sinned  much  because  she  loved 
much  ".  On  the  other  hand,  Dives,  whom  he  con- 
signed to  the  torments  of  hell,  had  not  actively  sinned 
at  all.  The  Scribes  and  Pharisees  whom  he  de- 
nounced unsparingly  were  probably  men  of  exem- 
plary life. 

His  contention  from  first  to  last  is  that  the  evil 
in  life  is  not  sin  but  Selfishness.  It  would  probably 
be  more  true  to  say  that  he  reached  down  to  the 
fundamental  truth  that  all  sin  is  at  bottom  selfish- 
ness. There  is  really  no  other  sin.  All  offences  are, 
when  analyzed,  seen  to  be  but  allotropic  forms  of 
this  one.  Lust,  for  example,  is  but  the  desire  to 
possess,  without  regard  to  the  good  of  the  thing 
possessed.  Hate  is  but  the  cold  determination  to 
rid  oneself  of  the  person  whose  existence  disturbs 
his  sense  of  well  being.  Its  final  expression  is  mur- 
der, for,  as  Shylock  says,  "  hateth  any  man  the  thing 
he  would  not  kill  "  ?  Theft  is  selfishness  pure  and 
simple.  So  of  all  other  immorahties  whatsoever,  they 
are  but  expressions  of  love  of  self.  Christianity,  on 
the  other  hand,  is  Altruism.  But  it  is  altruism  made 
dynamic.  The  amazing  thing  is  that  it  should  have 
ever    been    presented    as    self-seeking    raised    to    its 


THE  SUM  OF  THE  WHOLE  MATTER   235 

highest  power,  and  given  the  sanction  of  religious 
obligation.  For  what  else  is  the  exhortation  to  the 
individual  to  "  seek  salvation  ",  to  "  save  his  soul  "? 
And  what  other  motive  impels  the  monk  and  the  re- 
cluse to  withdraw  from  the  world  of  affections  in  the 
hope  of  finding  his  own  highest  good?  Jesus'  dictum 
— ^which  is  not  a  paradox — is  "  he  that  saveth  his 
life  shall  lose  it  ".  It  is  the  fundamental  law  of  the 
Kingdom. 

Filled  with  his  Father's  spirit, — and  it  is  little 
wonder  that  with  this  well  beloved  son  he  was  well 
pleased, — he  enters  human  society.  As  he  moves  up 
and  down  among  men,  he  finds  them  that  are  spirit- 
ually akin  to  him  and  to  each  other.  Of  these  his 
Kingdom  forms  itself.  It  is  a  relationship  not  only 
deeper,  but  more  real  than  that  of  race,  or  blood,  or 
any  other  tie  whatsoever.  "  Then  came  his  mother 
and  his  brothers,  and  standing  outside  the  throng 
they  called  for  him.  And  when  they  told  him.  Be- 
hold thy  mother  and  thy  brothers  are  outside  seek- 
ing for  you,  he  answered  and  said,  Behold  my  mother 
and  my  brethren.  For  whosoever  will  do  the  will 
of  my  Father,  he  is  my  brother  and  my  sister ". 
What  the  will  is  of  which  he  spoke  is  plain  from 
the  whole  story.  The  Parable  of  the  prodigal  son  is 
his  portrait  of  his  Father.  The  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  is  the  pronunciamento  of  his  Kingdom.  It 
is  "  love  ",  "  Love,  even  your  enemies  ;  do  good ;  do 
good  even  to  them  that  persecute  you  ".     His  King- 


236  CHRISTIANITY 

dom  therefore  has  its  place,  not  in  the  realm  of 
knowledge,  or  morals,  but  in  the  affections. 

Now,  it  will  probably  not  be  gainsaid  that  this  is 
the  primary  article  in  Christ's  religion, — in  theory. 
But  there  are  two  obstinate  difficulties  which  must 
be  overcome  before  one  can  consent  to  subscribe  to 
it  and  enroll  himself.  The  first  is :  "  All  this  is  fair 
and  gracious ;  it  is  no  doubt  true  in  that  region  which 
you  call  the  eternal  realities,  but  our  lives  are  to  be 
lived  on  the  surface  of  the  world  as  we  find  it.  In 
human  life,  as  it  actually  exists,  to  adopt  this  atti- 
tude toward  one's  fellows  is  neither  practicable  nor 
safe;  practically  it  could  only  issue  in  the  disorgan- 
ization of  society  and  the  obliteration  of  the  indi- 
vidual who  orders  his  life  thus  ".  What  can  be  an- 
swered to  this.? 

Jesus'  answer  is :  "  It  is  practicable,  for  I  have 
done  it;  it  may  or  may  not  be  safe,  as  the  case  may 
be  ".  When  it  is  once  admitted  that  sincere  good 
will  on  the  part  of  each  man  toward  every  other 
man  would  transform  this  world  from  a  bad  place 
to  live  in  to  a  good  one,  the  question  of  its  practica- 
bility will  of  necessity  take  a  subordinate  place.  The 
thing  which  is  good,  and  which  men  know  to  be 
good,  will  in  the  long  run  prevail.  But  the  run  is 
a  very  long  one  indeed.  At  the  stage  of  the  race 
where  we  now  are  it  seems  as  though  the  goal  would 
not  be  reached  within  any  measurable  time. 

Let  us  say,  then,  that  our  word  "  love  "  is,  maybe, 
too   strong  a  term  to  use   for  that  temper  toward 


THE  SUM  OF  THE  WHOLE  MATTER   237 

one's  fellows  wliich  Christ  prescribes.  As  a  rule,  we 
reserve  that  word  for  one  supreme  and  imperious 
affection.  "  Well-disposed  "  is  a  more  accurate  ex- 
pression. The  benediction  is  to  "  men  well-willed  ". 
The  affectional  attitude  of  the  Christifin  toward  all 
men  does  not  in  any  wise  preclude  him  from  those 
personal  and  intimate  affections  which  constitute  his 
own  life.  Every  man  is  not  called  upon,  for  exam- 
ple, to  love  his  neighbor's  wife  as  his  own.  Nor  is 
he  at  liberty  to  ignore  moral  differences,  and  be 
pleased  with  the  saint  and  the  harlot  alike.  What  is 
demanded  is  that  he  shall  recognize  his  kinship  with 
all  his  Father's  children,  and  do  for  each  what  is 
the  real  best,  not,  maybe,  the  thing  which  his  brother 
wants,  but  the  thing  which  is  best  for  him.  To  love 
one's  neighbor  as  himself  does  not  mean  to  love  him 
in  ways  in  which  one  has  no  business  to  love  him- 
self. That  this  is  practicable  has  been  proven  ex- 
perimentally ever  since  the  first  starving  cave-dweller 
shared  his  bone  with  a  hungry  neighbor,  or  drove 
away  with  his  club  the  marauding  vagabond  who 
would  snatch  his  children's  food. 

If  one  shall  say,  then,  "  Is  this  all?  Is  Christian- 
ity simply  to  do  good  to  one's  fellows  "?  the  an- 
swer is,  "  Yes ;  this  is  all  ".  "  For  I  was  hungry, 
and  ye  gave  me  meat;  I  was  thirsty  and  ye  gave  me 
drink;  I  was  a  stranger,  and  ye  took  me  in;  sick, 
and  ye  visited  me;  I  w^as  in  prison,  and  ye  came 
unto  me.     Verily  I  say  unto  you  that  inasmuch  as 


S38  CHRISTIANITY 

je  did  it  to  one  of  tlie  least  of  these  my  brethren, 
ye  did  it  unto  me  ". 

But  let  no  one  mislead  himself.  Because  this  way 
of  life  is  simple  it  is  not  easy.  The  most  abstruse 
creeds  and  the  most  exacting  codes  are  far  easier. 
The  person  one  is  called  upon  to  feed  may  be  dis- 
agreeable in  his  manners ;  the  stranger  who  asks  to 
be  taken  in  may  be  just  the  man  who  has  done  one 
grievous  wrong;  the  sick  man's  sickness  may  be  in- 
fectious; the  man  one  is  called  to  visit  in  jail  may 
be  the  very  one  who  defrauded  him  before  he  was 
sentenced.  The  difficulty  is  very  great  indeed.  If 
I  love  my  enemy,  I  put  myself  at  his  mercy.  If 
I  disarm  wliile  my  opponent  holds  his  sword  in 
hand,  he  may  run  me  through.  If  I  allow  my- 
self to  be  solicitous  about  the  food  and  shelter 
of  my  neighbors,  I  must  withdraw  just  so  much 
time  and  energy  from  my  own  affairs.  If  all  men, 
even  within  a  limited  area,  could  be  brought  to 
begin  this  manner  of  life  simultaneously,  it  might  be 
possible,  but  how  am  I  to  begin  alone  .^ 

Christ's  answer  is,  the  way  to  begin  is  to  begin. 
He  does  not  pretend  to  disguise  the  possible  cost. 
Indeed  it  would  seem  as  though  he  had  pointed  to 
every  conceivable  peril  which  might  daunt  the  cour- 
age of  disciples.  He  forewarned  them  that  they 
should  be  hated  and  persecuted;  that  men  would  say 
all  manner  of  evil  concerning  them ;  that  they  would 
be  cast  out  of  the  world's  synagogues,  and  maybe 
killed.     And  they  were.     And  so  was  he.     But  he  as- 


THE  SUM  OF  THE  WHOLE  MATTER   239 

sured  them  that  not  a  hair  of  their  heads  would  be 
wasted.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  ultimate  waste  in 
any  of  God's  Kingdoms.  But  all  the  same,  the  goal 
toward  which  any  kingdom  moves  is  reached  without 
any  regard  to  seeming  prodigality.  This  is  to  be 
said,  however,  the  Kingdom  is  now  so  well  estab- 
lished, and  comprehends  so  many  individuals,  that  its 
law  of  life  has  to  a  large  extent  been  welcomed  by 
the  environing  world.  There  is  little  danger  now 
and  here  of  the  lions  or  the  stake.  Few  men  now 
adopt  the  law  of  Selfishness  as  their  guiding  prin- 
ciple. Competition  is  surely  disappearing  even  from 
regions  where  it  controlled  for  ages.  Indeed  the 
extraordinary  phenomenon  is  now  being  seen, — the 
principle  of  competition  invoking  the  aid  of  national 
law  to  guarantee  for  it  its  old  place  in  commerce! 

Still,  it  is  true  and  will  for  ages  be  true,  that 
Christ's  Way  is  so  arduous  that  it  will  not  be  adopted 
without  some  imperious  sanction.  This  sanction  he 
provides  when  he  makes  it  the  way  of  Life, — not  of 
happiness,  but  of  existence.  Sin  is  Selfishness ;  but 
selfishness,  when  complete,  ends  in  the  extinction  of 
its  subject.  As  the  circle  of  a  selfish  life  contracts 
into  an  ever  smaller  circumference,  it  tends  to  become 
at  last  only  a  point,  and  finally  to  vanish.  This  is 
the  process  through  which  a  soul  is  destroyed.  It 
perishes  of  self-seeking.  Infinite  selfishness  is  soul 
suicide.  "  For  he  that  loveth  not  abideth  in  death. 
Whosoever  hateth  his  brother  is  a  murderer,  and  ye 
know  that  no  murderer  hath  eternal  life  abiding  in 


240  CHRISTIANITY 

him  ".  Because  such  a  soul  will  not  help,  and  is 
therefore  useless  for  the  eternal  Father's  purpose,  it 
is  allowed  to  follow  its  own  chosen  way  to  extinc- 
tion, where  it  can  no  longer  hinder.  Allowed  to  do 
so?  There  is  no  power  in  the  universe  which  can 
prevent  it  except  itself. 

Over  against  this  the  same  force  operates  in  the 
opposite  direction.  He  that  spendeth  findeth.  The 
outgoing  of  the  soul  in  love  and  good  will,  so  far 
from  dissipating  and  weakening  its  own  energies,  en- 
hances and  fortifies  them.  The  affections  are  the 
only  human  faculty  incapable  of  exhaustion.  Every 
other  has  its  breaking  strain.  Thought  grows  weary 
with  work ;  the  emotions  when  stimulated  too  far  be- 
come obtunded;  but  love  never  tires.  Many  a  man 
has  found,  to  his  surprise,  and  maybe  to  his  con- 
sternation, that  when  he  begins  a  task  of  charity  he 
becomes  entangled  in  it.  It  ovemiasters  him.  It 
draws  him  out  and  on  to  issues  larger  than  he  had 
contemplated;  and  it  does  so  because  through  it  his 
own  being  grows  larger  and  stronger.  "  For  every 
one  that  loveth  is  begotten  of  God.  He  that  abideth 
in  love  abideth  in  God.  And  what  shall  it  profit  a 
man  if  he  shall  gain  even  the  whole  world,  and  lose 
himself  in  the  doing  of  it".'^  In  other  words,  only 
he  that  loves  lives. 

This  automatic  force  is  the  "  Fan  in  the  hand  " 
of  the  Son  of  Man,  winnowing  forever,  separating 
the  chaff  from  the  grain  on  the  world's  threshing 
floor.      Thus  the  Kingdom  is  being  builded.     Who 


THE  SUM  OF  THE  WHOLE  MATTER   241 

belong  to  it?  They  who  will  well  to  their  fellows. 
Where  is  it  to  be  seen?  Ideally  it  ought  to  be  con- 
terminous with  the  Church.  Actually  it  is  not  so. 
Some  time,  we  may  hope,  it  will  be  so,  as  the  Master 
contemplated.  But  candor  compels  the  sad  confes- 
sion that  before  that  time  the  Church  must  learn  to 
love.  Organizations  learn  that  far  more  slowly  than 
persons  do.  There  is  a  great  multitude  whom  no 
man  could  number  within  those  societies  which  we 
call  churches,  who  would  gladly  walk  together  in 
unity  and  live  as  brethren  in  one  house,  but  who  are 
let  and  hindered  in  doing  so  because  their  organiza- 
tions, as  such,  have  not  the  mind  of  Christ.  Instead 
of  humbling,  they  exalt  themselves.  Instead  of  con- 
sidering each  the  things  of  another,  each  seeks  the 
things  of  its  own.  It  could  not  be  otherwise,  since 
for  these  many  centuries  they  have  thought  of  the 
Kingdom  as  resting  upon  a  Creed  or  a  Code.  These 
are  regarded  as  completing  the  essential  equipment 
of  a  church.  The  stuff  of  which  that  is  built  is 
not  supplied  by  the  understanding  or  the  conscience, 
but  the  heart.  So  comes  the  paradox  that  a  church 
whose  members  generally  are  "  children  of  the  King- 
dom "  may  as  an  organization  exhibit  precisely  those 
phenomena  which  the  law  of  the  Kingdom  condemns. 
It  may  act  toward  other  churches  as  no  Christian 
would  think  of  acting  toward  another  Christian.  In 
a  word,  it  is  loveless.  Whether  it  be  true  or  not 
that  "  corporations  have  no  souls  ",  it  is  approx- 
imately true  that  churches  have  no  hearts.     They  act 


